Rise of Bali
by Siontix
Summary: Bali has always been a mere shadow of the Netherlands. Forced to submit to the great power and live on as a primitive tribe. With the world changing quickly, and empires beginning to consume more and more islands, the Royal Faction understands that the time to rise is here. Will Bali be able to rise up to the challenge and become one of the great powers of the world?
1. Bali Emerges

_This is a new short project I'm going to be working on. Given how fast I've been pulling out F-Zero: Seppuku chapters lately, I actually feel that I need to slow down just slightly so I don't begin to irritate any of my readers. However, I can't control my lust to write, but I also want to play Victoria II. Solution? I found that I should try mixing the two together. So, voila. Here's my first ever attempt at mixing Victoria II game play into literature._

_Tag along as I take control of the primitive pacific island nation of Bali and attempt to rise up in the world. Will I successfully rise up and become a world power by 1936, or will this all just be a feeble attempt, as I find myself suddenly controlled by the flag of Britain? This story should only last about a week at most. The interesting concept here, is that the story ends, if Bali ceases to exist. If I find myself annexed by another country, the story is over._

_Feel free to throw some recommendations my way as we venture. Perhaps if your recommendation seems plausible, I may give it a go (example; invade Japan.) At any rate, here's the first part to my history book themed story on Bali._

Chapter 1 - Bali emerges

1836-a great deal of time had now passed since the dark days of Napoleon Bonaparte and his many coalition wars. France remained one of the greatest global powers, alongside Prussia, Russia, Spain, the Ottoman Empire the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. Each continent was filled with the barbaric concept of warfare, neither nation ever having true justification to send such brave men into battle.

The world primarily focused on the Germanic states, the Italian states, the many colonies of the United Kingdom, Russia's desire to conquer, and the colonization of Africa. Amongst all of these great powers, was a small island nation isolated in the pacific, taking on the name of Bali.

Bali was a primitive nation, forced to submit to their Dutch neighbors. Compared to the Dutch colonies that surrounded the isolated island nation, Bali was nothing but a waste of time. The Netherlands had muskets, while the military of Bali was comprised of more primitive weapons-such as arrows and the occasional flintlock. The kingdom of Bali was controlled by a monarchy with a very right-wing ideology. In size, Bali only had a population of 209,000-99% of which were illiterate.

Having hid behind the Dutch for long enough, the government of Bali found a decisive moment to finally reveal themselves to the world. With the Dutch distracted with European affairs-specifically their war with Belgium-the Netherlands had no time to concern themselves with Bali. If Bali had any chance of ever being recognized as a country internationally, they had to hurry, before the world would advance too far technologically. Without further hesitation, the grand objective to expand had been proposed to the House of Bali. Through various statistics and map planning, the Royal Faction of Bali approved the plan. By the 20th century, Bali would become one of the great nations of the world; or so the government hoped.

From January 20 to February 17, a fairly noticeable change in political influence had occurred. The fully conservative nation of Bali soon found itself falling into the hands of liberals, but still too far to be a risk to the Royal Faction. The idea of proposing reforms in order to form a more equal nation was initially thought to be a good idea, as this could only further advance the nation of Bali. However, the majority of the nation mutually continued to agree that keeping things the way they are was the correct path to take. Considering the Royal Faction was pro-military, it was only beneficial in the long run for the people of Bali to embrace the conservative ideology, as this was the key to expanding their territory.

May 1st, 1836-the government of Spain and the Netherlands had signed off with an alliance, agreeing to aid one another in terms of war. Given that the Netherlands surrounded Bali, and that Spain controlled the Philippines-which was above them-Bali felt surely threatened. In the event that the Netherlands declared war on Bali, there was only the hope of defending the mainland from a Dutch invasion. If Spain were to relocate their colony troops that were in the Philippines, Bali would surely fall victim to a successful invasion. In response to the sudden alliance, the Royal Faction of Bali decided that the time for invasion had to occur sooner than later.

After two months of planning, the Royal Faction proposed an official plan. On July 17, 1836, it was officially confirmed that Bali would soon find itself in a state of war with their fellow primitive neighbor-Brunei. While Brunei was indeed much larger than Bali, they lacked the needed military to fend off against Bali. Henceforth, the invasion of Brunei was looking favorably towards Bali; assuming that they make successful landfall on the island of Borneo. Brunei controlled the northern part of Borneo, but the Netherlands controlled the south. The center of Borneo had yet to be colonized on the account of the hazardous jungle.

Much later, January 9, 1837-two transport ships had been officially commissioned by the Royal Faction, which would bring the soldiers over to Borneo and begin the invasion. Unfortunately, the two ships were greatly delayed, as Bali lacked the much needed resources to create safe and efficient ships. While it was indeed possible to build ships out of the materials they had, they couldn't risk building ships that could easily be sunk. Also, ships were needed that could cope with the harsh conditions of ocean waves. Ultimately, the ships were delayed for the time being, thus angering the Royal Faction.

With the construction of the two transports at a complete halt, the Royal Faction became frantic that their plan of invasion would soon be discovered by their neighbors. After a long year of fearing the Dutch, an idea was proposed to the House of Bali; an idea that had never been considered previously. Rather than labeling the Netherlands as a rival, officials from Bali arrived in Dutch colonies in an attempt to improve relations between the two nations. Ultimately, this was successful. While the Dutch still refused to acknowledge Bali as anything more than a tribal island, they did turn a calm expression towards the Balinese. Of course, becoming good friends with the Netherlands was not part of the longterm plan. The Royal Faction did decide, however, to milk out these good relations by opening trade opportunities with them.

While Bali continued to prepare for inevitable war with Brunei, a very strange event had occurred far across the globe. In May of 1838, the government of France and Sardinia-Piedmont had declared war on Two Sicilies-the Italian state. France desired to liberate the kingdom of Italy from Two Sicilies-but to the disapproval of many other Italian states. Most of the world watched as France marched into Italy. Surprisingly, this war had a slow start, as France had merely sunk their ships and proceeded to blockade them. Since the other Italian states refused to give France transit rights through their territory, France could only enter Two Sicilies from the water.

In September of 1938, Bali had been greatly surprised. They of all nations had received a massive shipment of flintlock rifles from the Dutch, likely because of their positive relations. Dismay soon struck the Balinese, however, as the nation soon found themselves stacked with weapons they had no idea how to use. Ultimately, Bali now had hundreds of flintlock rifles-but no one qualified to use them. As great as a gift this was, Bali would simply need to set these new weapons aside and rely on primitive weapons for the time being. One thing was for certain, however. The Balinese had no plan on returning this bountiful shipment.

It had now been nearly two years since the Royal Faction requested that two transport ships be built. After two long years, the only thing that had been built up was frustration. After all of these years, only 0.5% of _one_ ship had been built. The government was furious. At this rate, it would take nearly 400 years for a single transport ship to be built. Naturally, the plan was to invade Brunei soon, not in the year 2238. Ironically, shortly after having become outraged by this lack of work, a shipment of supplies had been brought to Bali in exchange for much money. January 21st, 1839, the first transport ship was officially under a speedy process of construction.

While Bali now had a military prepared for the invasion, and a ship under construction, more international issues had occurred. While France continued to duel Two Sicilies, the Russian Empire decided to enter a state of war as well. February 1st, 1839, Russian soldiers had entered Manchuria with the intention of splitting Manchuria in half. The world was caught off guard by this invasion, but was in no position to intervene. Inevitably, the Manchurians would fall, leaving Russia bordering both Manchuria and Korea.

Later in April, joyous celebration had occurred in Bali as the first transport had lifted anchor for the first time. The Royal Faction was pleased to see a Balinese ship setting sail successfully, and fortunately, the second ship was now under construction. In late July, the second transport had been completed, thus finalizing the requirements to pull off such a war against the primitive nation of Brunei. With all armies ready, and two ships prepared, the military began to draw out their plan for attack.

October 25, 1839-the final draft of the invasion plan had been complete. Two ships would send Balinese armies to the uncolonized jungles of Borneo, where they would then march north into the jungles of Brunei. There wasn't a single shred of doubt that many men would die merely fighting the diseases and wildlife of the massive jungle-but this was a sacrifice the Royal Faction was willing to make. In the long run, all that mattered was that the government got what they wanted.

It was in early May that the armies of Bali had officially loaded up on the ships, now prepared for war. Considering this would be a war fought between two primitive nations, everyone knew what to expect. There would be warriors, not soldiers. 18,000 men had been gathered up in total, which made up a large portion of Bali's population. Losing all 18,000 in war would inevitably doom the Royal Faction and would likely lead to a surge of power for the liberals. Losing this war was out of the question. While fighting Brunei would likely be an easy task, the biggest struggle would be coping with the jungles. After many years of planning, it had finally happened. June 30, 1840, the government of Bali had declared war on the Brunei and immediately landed 11,000 troops inside of the uncolonized jungles of Borneo.

4 months had passed with little word of the 11,000 soldiers. After many months of worrying, it had only just been revealed to the nation of Bali that the army had finally escaped the unexplored jungles of Borneo. Unfortunately, many men had already been lost, as predicted. The army had finally escaped from this jungle, but unfortunately, immediately found themselves faced with yet another jungle. October 19, 1839, the Balinese entered the jungle of Kuching. No soldiers of Brunei had been found in the jungle, but they indeed came across another enemy, arguably, worse than enemy soldiers. Inside of the jungle they found many more diseases and insects that left many dead. Unfortunately, the army would be forced to remain in this jungle until they had it fully secured. Once secured, however, they could build small fortifications that would protect them from the terrible jungle environment. While the Balinese soldiers were sick, starving, and lost; the army of Brunei sat nervously many miles to the northeast in the capital village.

The Royal Faction understood that these were unforgiving conditions, so they opened up a new risky plan. In order to force the enemy out of submission, the military had devised a plan to send an army of 5,000 men to attack from the northeast-mere miles from the capital. The Balinese men in the Kuching jungle continued to starve, but was finding success, nonetheless. January 24th, 1840, 5,000 Balinese soldiers landed in the plains of Api, mere miles from the capital. This opened up a two front war, however, just like the jungle in the west, this new army would need to secure the region under Balinese control. Fortunately, securing plains would be much easier to do than securing a jungle. Henceforth, progress was going much faster in Api than in Kuching. Regardless of the speed difference, the army in Kuching would likely finish securing the jungle first.

Many more months went by, but through teamwork and quick building, the jungle of Kuching had been secured as early as July. The army in Api was close to finished in securing the region, but still had to set up improvised docks on the shore. That way, the eastern invasion could be supplied by Balinese ships. Before the operation in Api could finish, the western army had already moved into the central region of Brunei, which brought them to a much different scenery at long last. They now found themselves with the task of securing the hilly terrain of Bintulu-Brunei's largest region. Despite it being a war, the army of Brunei remained in the capital, waiting for the Balinese armies to finally arrive for one bloody battle.

By early August of 1840, Api had been successfully secured by the western armies, which officially created a secure two front war. By now, Brunei's chances of winning were declining greatly. The jungles had greatly hurt the Balinese, but didn't stop them from marching into the hills. While the western army proceeded to settle down in the hills, the eastern army stood their ground in Api, ensuring that the army of Brunei wouldn't retreat to the east. The invasion had now been going on for a year, and in total, 1,500 soldiers had died merely fighting off diseases in the jungles. Many had merely become lost in the jungle, and would remain their until their inevitable death. Brunei had yet to lose a single soldier, but with 10,000 soldiers surrounding their capital-this would soon change.

Meanwhile in Europe, France's war with Two Sicilies continued to rage on. To great surprise, however, the table had now changed. For many years, France had Two Sicilies on their knees, but after so many years, exhaustion had begun to build up in the French. Around October, it was generally agreed by everyone but France and Sardinia-Piedmont that the war was no longer going in their favor. A French defeat against such a small foe would be humiliating and likely incur a massive loss of prestige in their empire. While the Italians had no way of actually attacking France, only time would tell whether France would throw the white flag or not.

Bali had been mainly distracted with the war in Brunei, but the Royal Faction had soon been shocked as troubling news had reached the capital. A rumor had spread into the island that the Netherlands had been secretly fabricating a casus belli to invade the primitive nation of Atjeh-another neighbor of Bali, and a potential target for invasion. Outraged, any plans of allying with the Netherlands in the near future had been immediately abandoned. While the Dutch and Balinese remained at a cordial relationship, this demonstration of Dutch imperialism had easily strained their relationship yet again. Whether the Netherlands would go on and use this casus belli to invade Atjeh would ultimately be where Bali's opinion on the Dutch would change. Abandon or use it, Bali's views on the Netherlands would reflect on this alone.

Months had passed, and on April 8, 1842, the hilly terrain of Bintulu had been secured. Unlike the jungle, no men had been lost from diseases. Brunei was now almost under full control. At long last the time had come, with the capital completely surrounded, the Balinese were given the order to attack. The western army moved in towards the capital, the eastern army stood its ground in Api.

On April 20, 1842-the battle had begun. The demonic war crying of 10,000 Balinese soldiers could be heard as they charged towards their enemy. With only 3,000 men to defend with, the soldiers of Brunei were left trembling. One army of 5,000 charged from the center, while another charged from the right flank. Their general was incompetent, thus, had no idea how to counter against such an attack. The only benefit Brunei had on their side was that the Balinese had to cross a river.

Using this to their advantage, the men of Brunei shrieked war cries into the air and charged towards the river. The Balinese had to cross through wooden bridges, which was ultimately the only penalty they incurred. Initially, the men of Brunei managed to take down a good amount of Balinese soldiers with ranged weapons. But once the armies of Balinese made it past the river, not a single man on Brunei's side was left with confidence. With one final prayer to their Gods, the men entered combat with each other.

Decapitated heads flew, bodies fell, blood would spray from the necks of soldiers, faces were maimed, and many were pinned to the ground by blades. The 3,000 men fighting for Brunei stood their ground for as long as they could, but it was no use. The center attack kept them busy, but the right flank of 5,000 men easily swarmed in and butchered the men up like vegetables. The battle didn't even last a month.

In merely 8 days, the final soldier that fought for Brunei fell to his knees, falling into a puddle of his own blood-along with the blood of his brothers. All 3,000 soldiers had fallen, but in total, only 266 Balinese soldiers had died. Ironically, the army of Brunei did less to the Balinese than the jungles. The jungles killed x5 as many soldiers as the defending army did. Ultimately, this was a victory to be celebrated, and a day to mourn for the families of the 3,000 soldiers. Despite all soldiers being destroyed, resistance continued, and securing the capital village would take time.

While Bali enjoyed an easy victory over their enemy, in North America, Mexico had been hit by surprise-and by the one nation no one would ever want to fight. July 4th, Independence Day, 1842-the United States of America declared war on Mexico, demanding that they hand over Nevada-Utah, which Mexico had controlled since the beginning. Bali had no concerns of the United States, but was indeed opposed to the idea of nation expanding. Ultimately, Bali was in support of Mexico, and desired for the United States to fail in the war. Considering the extreme strength of the United States, losing a war was unlikely for them.

Finally, on the 1st of August, 1842-the war had come to an end in Brunei. After months of securing the capital, the Balinese found and executed the resisting leaders of Brunei. With no leaders left for Brunei, and a village under complete Balinese control, the call to end the war was up to the Royal Faction-and they didn't hesitate to enforce their demands.

In the end, August 1st, 1842 would be known as the day that Bali had expanded and conquered Brunei. Bali was no longer a mere island, rather, it was now a massive nation full of jungles. The jungles would likely be what Bali used against their enemies in the future, just as Brunei did. There was unexplored land to the south for Bali to now attempt to colonize, but alas, the Netherlands had land in Borneo as well just to the south. The question was now raised, who would end up colonizing the jungles of Borneo first-Bali or the Netherlands.

This was a grand victory for the Balinese, but not much of importance to the rest of the world. Until the day that the Balinese conquered a civilized nation, no nation would ever waste time with Bali. In order to be recognized as a nation, Bali had a few things left to do. First, was to technologically advance and discover more modern tools. Second, they needed to prove their strength to the world, but not in a way that would provoke a great power to invade the primitive nation. Bali now has a good start.

Aside from Bali, France is losing to Two Sicilies, Russia finds itself fighting Manchuria and China, and the United States now wages war with Mexico. 6 years has already passed, 58 left until the entry of the 20th century. Will Bali continue to strive and one day make its way into the spotlight of important nations? Or will they eventually collapse…

To be continued!


	2. Meaning of Civil War

_So, at long last, here's the second episode to "Rise of Bali". Honestly, I can't believe the events taking place within so few years. Had I known what was to come, I would've continued this story in an instant, I didn't know that within years following 1846, the world would become so eccentric and wild. So, I deeply regret not continuing this story, because little did I know, things were only just getting interesting! And boy, I can't wait to see what happens next..._

_Unfortunately, I must admit, despite the plot of this story centering around Bali, this chapter actually focuses a lot less on Bali, and much more on Europe. As of the end of this chapter, I am 60% toward westernizing—and that's where Bali will truly begin to "rise". For now, I was just focusing on escaping the uncivilized era, and of course, keeping myself from being invaded._

_I truly believe that the events surrounding Bali will make up for this._

Chapter 2 – Meaning of Civil War

The Balinese populace was striving under current leadership. It was true that the Royal Faction aspired to set up a more jingoistic nation that would inevitably result in the death of thousands of beloved husbands and fathers alike. This was without a doubt a very immoral internal policy, but the Royal Faction had a simple, but impenetrable response.

"To ensure the continuing prosperity and freedoms that the Balinese currently enjoy, we must strengthen our borders, both forcibly and diplomatically. Only then will neighboring countries of great power begin to rule out the plausibility of an attack on Balinese soil. Bali is ready to shape itself into a power worth of recognition; but it is along with that shaping that we must bring change to the population as a whole, if we are to survive."

Bali was nowhere near as modernized as their Dutch neighbor. The military of Bali had advanced over the decade to the point where weapons of the renaissance were long abandoned. The Balinese were given matching uniforms and wooden sticks of thunder. No longer would they fight with arrows, but rather, they would fight with musket balls. This was a major change for the Balinese, and with new weaponry, came new strategies.

Prior to these military advancements, the simple island of Bali had successfully invaded and annexed territory once belonging to the tribe of Brunei. No longer is Bali a mere island, they have now expanded their borders into Northern Borneo. Southern Borneo remained under Dutch control. The race for Middle Borneo, unoccupied territory, would soon begin. If Bali had any hopes of taking this sector of land, they would need to become a more civilized nation.

Arguably, though, the annexation of Brunei was for the betterment of _all_ interests. While the island of Bali remains the capital of this slowly expanding nation, Borneo has been used for scientific research. Balinese scientists now study the deadly jungle of Kuching—where more than a thousand Balinese soldiers died during the occupation—for ways to avoid such attrition, along with other scientific studies on plants and wildlife. To the plains in the east, new farming techniques are studied, along with weapon testing. In the former capital village of Brunei, research is done on the villagers and their unique culture. Things that Brunei understood slowly assimilated into Bali's own understanding. Ultimately, Borneo was regarded as a silver mine for research—at least for a nation as uncivilized as Bali.

Bali wasn't the only nation with events surrounding them. All the way in Europe, an illegitimate Italian Republic had formed to the east of Two Sicilies. This country bore a green, white, and yellow version of the Italian flag. All other Italian states—including the Papacy—refused to recognize this as the true Italian nation. This was an Italy formed _without_ a legal title. The original and official title of _Italy_ remained disputed; except for the Republic of Italy, who claims to be the true bearer of the Italian title. This has caused the republic to be hated amongst _all_ other Italian states, leading to the seemingly inevitable result that the republic would soon be destroyed by a coalition of Italian states. But, surprisingly, France decided to recognize the republic as the true Italian state, and thus offered full protection. Of course, with such a powerful ally, the Italian Republic would have to be mad not to consider expanding their borders. Since they claim to hold the true title to Italy, they can legally invade _any_ Italian state they so desire. All of Europe suddenly finds itself wondering, will this be the first modern and completely unified Italy? Or will this republic fall and be looked at as nothing more than a pretender nation?

The Republic of Italy was controlled by the Nationalliberale party—a liberal influenced structure. Their primary rival was the Restaurazionisti (Reactionary/Far right) party of Two Sicilies. Not only was this a rivalry between two countries, but it was also a classic game of ideologies. The Republic of Italy, while indeed liberal, still sought to unify the Italian peninsula. This didn't stop the Restaurazionisti party from plotting against the Italian Republic, though; and in fact, only further promoted the idea that the republic had to be stopped before it could expand.

It was in September of 1846 that the Royal Faction of Bali declared their intention to improve diplomatic relations with the Netherlands. Though already on good terms with one another, the annexation of Bali would fully unify what would, historically, become Indonesia. Still recognizing the extreme power the Dutch could toss at Bali in the event of war, it was clearly within the Balinese favor to continue kissing up to this power. While extensive research continued to flow rapidly throughout the new nation, several diplomats were sent to Dutch Asia to solidify a stronger friendship. This was done with much favorable results.

Unfortunately, for Bali, it was not even a month later that a _very_ troubling event had occurred. Just at the peak of diplomatic relations with the Dutch, it had become public knowledge throughout the world that the Netherlands was adopting many Spanish customs. Schools had begun to teach Spanish, more diplomatic exchanges were made between the Dutch and Spanish, and the two kingdoms even proceeded to rely on one another economically. All in all, however, it was the Dutch alone who expressed their undying respect for the Spanish culture, even to the point where the government of Spain had a say in the Netherlands' decisions. Because of these developments, it was undeniable to all that the Dutch kingdom had been put into Spain's _sphere of influence_.

As expected, this bond between the Dutch and Spaniards resulted in an alliance. While this was hardly threatening in Europe, it was indeed very threatening to the growing nation of Bali—who was surrounded by Spain and the Netherlands. This made the Dutch threat even more nerve pinching for Bali's Royal Faction—as this meant that Bali could find itself suddenly being attacked by both Dutch colonies and the Spanish Philippines. The only good news for the Royal Faction was that the Netherlands retained good standing relations with Bali, thus establishing that an invasion on their part was unlikely. The same, could not be said for Spain.

On December 22, 1846—a European crisis had occurred. Citizens of Albania, under control by the Ottoman Empire, had raised their criticism of the Empire's control publicly—despite strict laws against freedom of speech. Of course, a population as small as Albania would never be able to rise up in a civil war and achieve independence, however, these citizens were in luck. The empire of Austria had pledged their support for the Albanian crisis, officially challenging the Ottomans with threats, if independence was not granted. Naturally, the Ottomans harshly declined this demand and stood their ground on the crisis—prepared for war over the matter, if absolutely necessary.

Three months of debate stirred between Austria and the Ottoman Empire. Other European great powers chimed in and carefully gathered information to help put together a decision. It was on March 13 that the United Kingdom, led by Queen Victoria, declared that it was wrong to leave a unique culture suppressed under an empire, so they sided with Austria in the heated debate for Albanian independence. At this point, the debate was heavily leaning toward a successful bid for Albanian freedom. Unfortunately, the North German Confederation (pre-German Empire), led by King Frederick William IV, officially sided with the Ottoman Empire with the excuse that Albania was far better off within the Ottoman Empire. Of course, any rational person in this day and age would have recognized the actual reason being that Austria was a major rival of the Confederation, as was the United Kingdom. The North German Confederation sided with the defenders out of biased thinking.

The crisis now included Austria and the United Kingdom against the Ottoman Empire and North German Confederation. The debates held between the four consisted mostly of insults and lectures for two more months. On July 9, 1847, a special conference was held in Paris—courtesy of King Philippe I of France. It was here that Queen Victoria, King William IV, Emperor Ferdinard V (Austrian Empire), and Sultan Abdülmecid I (Ottoman Empire) convened and left with an established white peace. Technically, though considered a 'white peace', this essentially meant that the defenders of the crisis had won, and thus, the Ottomans retained control over Albania.

About an entire year went by of silence throughout the world. Bali continued researching their new territory and even developing more weapons. At this point, they could field a total of 15,000 soldiers—far more than they could during their war with Brunei. Each soldier came equipped with standard issued muskets and uniforms. Though Bali was far from being civilized, they were indeed learning modern fighting techniques. For a country like the Netherlands, however, of whom was mere decades away from developing machine guns, they couldn't help but shake negatively at the lacking military of Bali.

The Balinese had modern weapons, yet, they had no idea how to use them. They fired from the hip, the recoil was sloppy, some soldiers sat on their knees when shooting—rather than standing. The Dutch saw this as pathetic, but as a friend of Bali, offered their immediate services. With an exchange of friendly offers, the Royal Faction of Bali accepted the Dutch offer of military training. May 18 of 1848, the Balinese were left jawdropped as hundreds of Dutch soldiers stepped onto the plains of Borneo.

The Dutch were attired in fancy gray uniforms, unique officer and soldier caps, and very unique types of weaponry. In contrast to the Balinese soldiers, the Dutch appeared futuristic—something that could only be imagined through folklore. For about three months, the Dutch remained in Borneo to teach Bali's greatest generals on how to properly fight. Shoot while standing, crouch to reload; proper weapon maintenance and cleaning; methods of calculating musket ball distance. The Dutch had easily modernized the Balinese understanding of fighting. Within these months, few soldiers of Bali remained that lacked professionalism in this field of warfare. Had it not been for the Netherlands' superior technology, even the Dutch would have had reason to fear Bali. However, this did give countries like Joseon Korea a reason to fret over Balinese expansion. With a little more technological advancements and more bodied armies, Bali could easily pull off a clean invasion of a more advanced Asian nation. The biggest score, of course, would be Japan; but Bali was far off from making this invasion a reality.

Previously, years after the successful United States wars against Mexico for control of several southern states, a breakthrough had occurred for a once minority political party. The Southern Democrats, which would historically go on to create the Confederate States of America. Indeed, though, the Southern Democrats won the election, officially putting heavy damage to the supporters of abolished slavery. Under this leadership, _more_ slave states had formed (namely, Nebraska and New Mexico) and the suppression of opposition to pro-slavery continued heavily. Along with being a fully slave oriented United States, they were also more jingoistic. Fortunately for Mexico, there was an existing peace treaty that would protect them from American aggression until the end of this first term. If lucky, the Southern Democrats would lose in 1852 and resort back to a pacifist nation.

It was a short lived break in Europe, for soon, on January 20 of 1849, a new crisis had been erupted by the North German Confederation. This crisis, however, was _clearly_ fabricated by the Germans in a sly attempt to weaken the Austrian Empire—as the crisis was over the independence of Central Hungary. By removing Hungary from Austria's borders, the empire would be left very vulnerable, as Austrian troops would need to circle around the independent territory in the event of war. Even worse for the Austrians, was that the Ottoman Empire repaid the favor from the previous crisis by immediately pledging their support for Hungarian independence.

Naturally, there was bickering between the three countries. Everyone knew this to be nothing more than a scheme to weaken Austria, but nevertheless, the topic of debate was a justified one. The Hungarian people had for long served under Austria, even through the Holy Roman Empire. Now there was a debate on whether or not to free them.

France aided Austria in this crisis officially on March 5th of 1849, seeing through the German attempt at crippling Austria. Because of the rivalry between France and the United Kingdom, differences were set aside between the British and Germans, and thus, the United Kingdom joined on the North German Confederation's side. Finally, the worst case scenario occurred, as the Russian Empire, led by Emperor Nicholas I, joined Austria's side. The rational decision at this point, for the North German Confederation, would be to surrender the crisis to Austria; but both the United Kingdom and Ottoman Empire insisted on holding their ground. Belgium, the last recognized great power of Europe, looked back and forth between the two sides, but ultimately struggled to choose for many months.

The issue that the North German Confederation faced was an obvious one. Despite having many armies, if the crisis were to become a war, they would be facing France to the west, Austria to the south, and Russia to the east. A three front war that would be logistically impossible to win. Regardless, King William IV of Prussia would continue heavy debates—and even hot threats.

The crisis was set in motion, and the citizens of Prussia—a kingdom comprising of about 80% of the Confederation—were at an understanding that they would easily lose a war against the three major powers. Opposition led to hate, and hate led to one of the greatest rebellions of modern times. In the hot month of August, 1849, over 207,000 Prussians took up arms in open rebellion against William IV. The Prussian rebels convened near the Rhineland, which they immediately began to seize with brute force. The policemen stood no chance against these well armed rebels, and thus, armies of the Confederation were raised to fight off the rebels. The biggest battle was within the city of Frankfurt am Main, where 27,000 rebel soldiers fought against 19,000 loyalists. Ultimately, the rebels won the battle; but hardly.

This civil war, ultimately, proved to be the Confederation's punishment for not ceasing the Hungarian crisis earlier; for now Austria capitalized on the Confederate-Prussian Civil War by closing the crisis—through war.

A shock went through William IV's head, as a latter had been placed on his desk from Austria—a declaration of war in response to the Confederation's aggressive act of installing a loss of stability in the Hungarian provinces. Both the Prussian rebels and German armies were torn down by French armies of great size. Defenders of East Prussia/Poland was easily knocked down by Russian armies, and the Austrians stormed up into North Germany with a tight rope of armies. The United Kingdom offered what support they could in the form of naval fleets, but was ultimately unwilling to lend any soldiers to the Confederation's aid. Mere months into the war, and the outcome was already becoming inevitable.

On October 1st, 1849, an even more significant event had unfolded across the Atlantic. Within the free land of the United States, much aggression had been built up by supporters of the Southern Democrats. Under current leadership, it was believed that any attempt to restore another political party would only harm the country. The Southern Democrat party was doing well, however, there was a general feeling in the population that this should be the official permanent party of the United States. On the first day of October, an incredible amount of 1 million fanatics of the Southern Democrat party took up arms and rushed for the capital. It was the Southern Democrat controlled government against Southern Democrat supporters, the goal of the supporters, was indeed to set up a presidential dictatorship and thus destroy American democracy. This was to be, rightfully, labeled as the _American Civil War_. Only, it was Dixie vs. Dixie.

By February of 1850—the halfway point of the 19th century, the North German Confederation had officially fallen onto the losing side. East Germany was completely occupied by Russian troops, while the southern parts came under occupation by Austrians. The French had secured the Rhineland. Down in Africa, all of Ottoman controlled Tunisia had been secured by the French, and Russia slowly began to consume northern Turkey. The United Kingdom was next, unless, the citizens had something to say about it...

In the same month that the Confederation quickly began to fall, the United Kingdom had finally been punished rightfully for their many acts of imperialism. The citizens of England, fearing an invasion that would result in mass slaughtering, pillaging, and rape; led to the unanimous decision that England wished to leave the United Kingdom after more than a century. In addition to this, the Scottish and Irish joined in with the revolts. The Scottish and Irish, however, agreed to terms with the English rebels that the immediate independence of all three kingdoms would only result in the long term destabilization of Great Britain as a whole. Thus, an agreement was brokered where the Scottish and Irish would aid the English rebels in securing their own independent kingdom, in which, the English would eventually repay the favor by aiding Scotland and Ireland in independence. This civil war was _easily_ favoring the English rebels, and unless foreign support was given, Queen Victoria would need to pray for a miracle to contain England within the empire. If the rebels were to succeed, and thus leave only Scotland and Ireland in the empire, the collapse of the United Kingdom as a whole was inevitable.

Meanwhile, as chaos ensues literally everywhere but Asia, Bali runs into their own massive change of scenery. The Royal Faction, the long existing right-wing party of Bali, had for long served as the working party that led to the expansion of Bali and many more great things. However, it had soon become evident to the party members that warfare, simply, wasn't on the bucket list at the moment. There was no immediate need for a strong military, despite claims made only mere years ago. What Bali desperately needed was change. And thus, on April 6, 1850; the Royal Faction had ceased to exist in place of a reformed party—the Liberal Faction.

Under liberal leadership, the goal for Bali is to make advancements much faster. While it is still mandatory that a heavy focus be put on the military, a slightly bigger focus now exists on industrializing the nation and improving the education system. With work, possibly, Bali could find itself advancing greatly within the next few years.

The American Civil War raged on, the rebels had seized much of the east, including Washington DC. Though government forces put up a fair fight, not even all the great powers in Europe combined could possibly put up against a strong million rebel soldiers. There was no hope for the preservation of American democracy. All the work once put into writing the U.S. constitution, the men who died against the British trying to create a free country, the concept of freedom of belief... all of this in vain as the elected president of the Southern Democrats and congress surrendered to the rebels. The American Civil War ended on May 8, 1850, and a new Southern Democrat had been installed into the White House following the destruction of congress.

No longer would the citizens have the freedom to vote, on this day, the United States had become a Southern Democrat dictatorship—a single party state.

At this point, two massive revolutions had been taking place successfully. One in the United States, the other in England. The Prussian revolution in the North German Confederation had summarily been destroyed by the French during the crisis war. It was evident that the United States would be looking at darker times, especially for the slaves of the United States—who were now under dictator control by pro-slaves.

Simply to stir up more conflict in the already chaotic world, in June of 1850, the Italian Republic had finally decided to invade Two Sicilies—seeing as to how all the other great powers were preoccupied. Ultimately, this war would bring the soldiers of Italy down to Sicily, where they would fight a few armies without a struggle and occupy the southern land.

As the entire world suddenly found itself at war with someone, a _fourth_ major civil war was to unfold. In July of 1850, Zapatistan rebels swarmed Mexico, seeking to replace Mexico with a new type of Mexican nation under the title of "Zapatist". Surprisingly, unlike all the other big revolts, this was the only one of the four that didn't fall in immediate favor of the rebels. Zapatistans and Mexicans fought very evenly matched battles, despite the many occupations that the rebels had immediately succeeded in. But little did both the rebels and Mexicans know, this was quite possibly the worst time possible for a fight.

Two months following the Mexican revolt, the new USA dictatorship declares war on Mexico with the intent of seizing Arizona—the last state in the way of a unified United States of America. On this same date, the Italian Republic had defeated Two Sicilies, thus adding the provinces of Sicily to the republic. This war easily demonstrated the superior power that the Italian Republic had over all Italian states, leaving no one confident enough to threaten the pretender republic.

Finally, almost 4 years after the start of the Hungarian crisis, the North German Confederation is forced to surrender. As punishment for the provoked crisis, the Confederation was forced to cede Schlesien to Austria—the most south-eastern part of the Confederation. This was a very humiliating defeat for the German people, and of course, would burn the message into the Confederation _not_ to enter a conflict with three countries from different directions. This was merely the Confederation's punishment, however; as for the United Kingdom, trouble continued to develop.

The English rebels, even with the conclusion of the war they sought to avoid, decided to press on with their invasion and finish what they started. By October of 1851, all of half of England and all of Northumbria had been occupied by the rebels. This disconnected the loyalists from Scotland, and thus left the United Kingdom in grave danger of losing the war. It was during this conflict that the USA also defeated Mexico with ease, also indirectly helping Mexico by destroying Zapatistan armies. Queen Victoria, even with the rebels slowly dismantling the United Kingdom, decided to do something fairly idiotic.

Even with England half controlled, and Northumbria completely occupied; the United Kingdom addressed the Polish distress call for independence, and started yet _another_ crisis. The United Kingdom was _immediately_ backed by the North German Confederation and and Sweden—a new great power. This was, possibly, a desperate attempt to acquire strong allies that would come and fight off the English rebels. But alas, Queen Victoria _heavily_ underestimated the strength of the Russian Empire after such a recent grand war.

On October 1852, the Russian Federation threw all negotiations off the table and declared war. Emperor Nicholas I of Russia could only label such a crisis as, "A clear demonstration of aristocratic imperialism." The North German Confederation and Sweden, respectively, were the primary offenders of this war. To the surprise and dismay of Queen Victoria, Russia was well prepared. Soldiers stormed in from both Germany and Scandinavia, leaving not a single Swedish or German army standing. This established, to Victoria's great disappointment, that there was not a shred of hope for the continued employment of England in the United Kingdom. If she didn't act fast and make a rational decision, she could soon lose everything—including her life.

February 12, 1853—almost 150 years after the establishment of Great Britain—the kingdom of England had left. Queen Victoria had been stripped of her England title and sent north into Scotland, no longer possessing any control over Wales and England. The United Kingdom had now been transformed into Scotland, Ireland, and India. Of course, it was inevitable that this was truly the beginning of the end for the United Kingdom. Without England to supply so many soldiers, there was no way Scotland, India, and Ireland would stay loyal. It was time for an ultimate reformation of the British crown, or lose it all...

By October of 1853, Russia had torn through the German and Scandinavian nation like butter. Despite the many desperate attempts for peace on the losing side, the Russian Emperor was unmerciful. He felt as though the German nation would never learn to stay out of Russia's business, until physically beat a second time. This meant, Russia was prepared to occupy _all_ of the Confederation and cripple their economy. If _this_ didn't tame the German nation, nothing would. But this wasn't the only major event to occur, for in the same month, hope had come in the form of _another_ rebellion in the United States. 800,000+ Southern Democrats had formed in the Midwest, most of which were the same soldiers who took part in forming this dictatorship. Now, everyone understood the wrongdoing of their past actions. Perhaps the Southern Democrat party was getting things done, but regardless, abolishing democracy was the biggest mistake ever made. Now it was time to make up for past mistakes and restore democracy. And fortunately, it would seem as though the government, again, stood little of a chance against the massive wall of rebels.

Finally, in that same month, back in Bali, an explosive discovery had been made. Through much studying of foreign cultures, specifically, the Netherlands; the first draft of a factory had been created and commissioned in the island of Bali. The factory would create fabric, something well desired throughout Asia. This, was an opportunity Bali had to get right. If they could create a fabric factory, they could monopolize their products throughout all of Asia—including China. This was truly a major step toward westernization, and above all, a major economic opportunity.

March of 1854 brought glorious news to the United States. The White House had never been touched, yet, the dictatorship of the United States raised their white flags in defeat and fled. Hardly anyone had died, and officially, democracy had returned to the United States. However, there was indeed a large change. Rather than having an election every four years in November, from this day on, the United States election would be held in August. The Southern Democrats remained in control for a new term of four years, but little did they know, they had yet to fully escape rebellion. For in secrecy, an underground organization called the _Confederate States of America _(CSA) plotted to secede from the union. The leader, was Jefferson Davis, a man seeking a new type of America. The question was, with a country already supporting slavery—what more could Davis possibly want?

One year later, Russia completed their grand conquest of Sweden and the Confederation. The United Kingdom, as always, got off scotch free—despite this being their war. But the United Kingdom _did_ have one sly trick up their sleeve...

Following the end of the Polish Crisis War, the Republic of Italy had conquered much more of the Italian peninsula—this time annexing the Italian state of Tuscany. Still, through very opportune moments where all the great powers were distracted, the republic had succeeded greatly in conquering land without consequences. Now, the Italian Republic owned a good majority of the land where they could officially declare themselves the true Italian country. Regardless of whether they're the real Italy or not, soon, there'd be no doubting this, as they'd own all of Italy.

As if the North German Confederation hadn't been humiliated enough over the past few wars, the greatest humiliation of all had suddenly occurred. While trying desperately to find ways to reestablish a working German army and fix the now shattered economy, with a headache, King William IV of Prussia returned to his desk one day, then was presented with a troubling ultimatum from the lovely Austrian Empire. The content of the letter was humiliating and unbelievable. A demand, to usurp the title of Prussia itself, or face another Austrian invasion. The kingdom of Prussia made up 80% of the North German Confederation, by handing over the title of Prussia to the Austrians, King William IV would officially lose his title. He wouldn't lose the North German Confederation, simply, because he still held the title to it. Rather than being known as King William IV of Prussia, he would need to be referred as to 'chancellor', and not a 'king'.

Facing a war they would never win, given Russia's recent beating; William IV had no choice but to accept. He surrendered the title of Prussia over to Austria. But most humiliating of all was what happened to the title. The kingdom of Prussia had been established an independent nation once more, with its new territory taking place in Schlesien—the same land Austria seized from the Confederation in the first crisis war. Indeed, Prussia existed once more outside of the Confederation; weak, but alive, nevertheless. The new question was whether Austria would aid Prussia in acquiring more land in the coming years, or if the revived Prussian nation would be returned to the Confederation through forcible means. Either way, William IV was shamed and irate at the situation. All hopes of one day forming Germany was now slowly falling out of reach.

Finally, in December of 1856, Queen Victoria pulled off her latest stunt. She, as ridiculous as this was, started a new crisis up against Russia. It was a risky move, but hopefully, would weaken the Russian Empire and give the United Kingdom a new ally, if successful. The crisis was over the Baltic nation of Latvia's independence. Naturally, no nation stood ready to side with the United Kingdom. Of all the countries, it was the North German Confederation that wanted no part in this crisis. However, to the surprise of all, Queen Victoria's plan had worked perfectly.

The Russian Emperor recognized that the United Kingdom had no war attrition, many ships, and _many_ soldiers; while Russia had little ships, a bad economy, and too many casualties from the last war. Russia knew this war couldn't possibly go in their favor and would only result in more than Latvia being freed from the empire. Without hesitation, that same month the crisis started, the Russian Empire accepted the British terms and acknowledge Latvian independence. This put the monarchy of Latvia on the map, free, and a loyal ally of the United Kingdom—exactly the kind of ally they needed, if they were to reclaim England...

Finally, years after commissioning it, the very first fabric factory of Bali had been constructed. A ribbon was cut, the machinery powered on, and the polluting smoke stacks of industry turned on. Citizens crowded the massive structure excitedly. For the Liberal Faction, this was a true demonstration of what they could bring the people—change. But... there was an issue. Not even a week after opening the factory, it was closed... as not a single citizen in Bali had a clue how to work the machinery. It was a sad day, but fortunately, the factory would always be there. Given enough time, hopefully, the Balinese would learn how to operate the machinery and bring great fortune to the rising nation.

The official end of the 1850s brought one last surprise to Europe—especially Austria. Yet, _another_, crisis had formed in 1858. Surprisingly, it was the North German Confederation, seeking revenge on the Austrian Empire. They had kick started a fired up debate to have Bohemia freed, which bordered the Confederation. If this was successfully done, the Confederation could place Bohemia into their own borders, either diplomatically or forcibly. This, truly, was revenge for stripping Prussia away from the Confederation. Austria remained brave, even after spotting so many armies placed on their borders—mere conscripts, but enough to easily defeat the Austrians. But alas, the Russian Empire immediately jumped in on Austria's side. And so, King William IV found himself face planted over his desk yet again, as he officially had to back out of the crisis and retreat from Austria's border. A month of laughter ensued all across Europe at the incompetence of the German people. But rest assured, come the 1860s, Europe would see a reformation of the German people. They were in a bad spot, but like always, destined to make a full comeback...

And it was on 1860 that Bali successfully researched something of great significance—railroads. The concept was new, but indeed, trains were on their way into the two islands of Bali, which would eventually allow fast transportation of soldiers and citizens alike. Though the factory was an initial bust, the railroads would make up for this. The transition from dirt and stone paths to wooden railroads was a major step in westernizing; and it was at this moment; Bali could proudly identify themselves as a nation more than half way through in their journey of westernizing. Come 10 more years or less, no doubt, Bali would become one of the strongest nations in Asia—below China, Japan, and Dai Nam.

But of all the places in the world affected, the United States was undoubtedly on a road to disaster. The country remained Southern Democrat after all these years, and the constant harsh suppression was taking its toll. The completely bizarre fact of the matter, was that 50.6% of _all_ African slaves in the United States had become communists... 24.5% of these slaves, _supported_ slavery. Not only was there trouble brewing between the white population of the United States, but even the black population could soon find themselves fighting one another over an unimaginable topic. Whether or not slavery should stay or go, it was only natural that 90-98% of slaves support its abolishment, but for whatever the reason, a quarter percentage was in support of slavery. This, was truly wrong, and truly said something about the mess of a country the citizens of the U.S. had created...

To be continued...


	3. Europe's New Powers

_This episode does in fact focus a bit more on Bali, and even includes a war. However, much concentration is still put onto the rest of the world. _

Chapter 3 – Europe's New Powers

1860 began in a fairly unique way. On April 18 of 1860, the revived kingdom of England—having seceded from the United Kingdom, signed off on their very first alliance... with the United Kingdom. Considering England seceded and practically destroyed the United Kingdom, many would find it very ironic that the English kingdom would come to Queen Victoria seeking an alliance. Regardless, Queen Victoria, now living in Linlithgow Palace—15 miles away from Edinburgh, Scotland. England's secession was painful for the British crown, especially since this left the United Kingdom only with Ireland and Scotland in Europe—easily conquerable land, given a big enough enemy. For now, Queen Victoria found England's alliance most tactful, even hoping to one day persuade the English crown to rejoin the United Kingdom.

In Bali, there was a very clear sense of change. Since the 1830s, the literacy of the Balinese as a whole increased by more than ten percent. A little less than ninety percent of the Balinese failed to understand their own language, and with this sense, learning foreign language was nearly impossible. Regardless, 1/10th of Bali could now read, which helped in all sorts of ways. There were more negotiations with the Dutch, Spanish, Chinese, and even the Americans. One could argue that this was all the result of the Royal Faction transforming into the Liberal Faction. Along with an improved education system, Bali was now enjoying an advanced military, a better system of currency, more jobs, new transportation systems, and even recognition by civilized nations. Bali was almost out of the gutter, but had some leaps to go before they would be officially recognized by the international community as an existing country. As it stood, almost every country in the world recognized Bali as uncolonized land.

On the month of September, the world was shocked—especially Asia. Without warning, the land of Indochina had been invaded by the Ottoman Empire of all nations. The Asian country of Siam, still without even muskets, stood their ground to the best of their ability, but ultimately found destruction by the Ottoman Empire. Within _days_ of the invasion, Siam surrendered and ceded Vietnamese land to the Ottomans. With this, Ottoman Indochina was created, and an immediate influx of orthodox Christians and Muslims immigrated from Turkey into the newly established Asian land. For Dai Nam, the nearly unified Vietnam, this was horrid news. For Bali, this was beyond strange and threatening—but not too concerning.

In April 1861, nearly a year since the Ottoman invasion, Dai Nam made _their_ move. The country of Luang Probang, bordering both Dai Nam and Ottoman Indochina, was conquered with ease by the Vietnamese. This established what one would consider a fully unified Vietnam, however, Ottoman Indochina stood in the path of unification. The Liberal Faction of Bali had censored these events taking place in Vietnam in order to keep the citizens of Balinese controlled Borneo calm. Fortunately, the government of Dai Nam offered their assurance to the Liberal Faction that no future plans were in place to invade Bali.

The Vietnamese were much larger than Bali both militarily and in country size, however, Bali possessed far superior weaponry and strategies. The decision to ensure peace between the two countries very well could have been made either out of fear or simple respectful behavior toward a true Asian neighbor. Nevertheless, Dai Nam and Bali held the same position on the Ottoman presence in Indochina—they had to go.

Meanwhile, in Europe, a massive war was about to unfold. On November 1861, two former allies who fought beside one another against the Russian Empire found themselves locked in a surprise war. It was on January 2, 1861, that King William IV of the North German Confederation had died. His successor, William Frederick Louis, acquired the German crown and _immediately_ pushed his master plan through.

King William I's first order of business as the new German king was to push a friend's royal claim for Norway. William I sent a declaration of war against King Charles IV of Sweden, demanding that Norway be freed from Sweden (Sweden owned Norway back then). Statistically, the Swedish were outmatched, and things only worsened as Denmark, led by King Frederick VII, offered to join William I—given that Denmark acquires Gotland—the island east of Sweden. German and Danish soldiers united, and set forth toward Sweden—ready for a good fight.

July 6, 1862, the Liberal Faction of Bali enacted a new policy—one that no Balinese citizen could believe. Indeed, this would be a policy that gives the nation great recognition. On this date, it was added to Bali's constitution that all citizens of Bali (including Balinese Borneo) could now purchase private property. This meant that as long as they could afford what acres of land they could, any citizen was free to build their own home and do whatever they want to the land they own. This action led to recognition by one of the greatest powers—the United States, still controlled by the pro-slavery Southern Democrats. The United States applauded Bali's obvious steps toward democracy and even established an embassy in Borneo. This recognition led to small bits of immigration to the islands of Bali, specifically, southerns of the United States—otherwise known as "Dixies". Naturally, Bali offered their gratitude to the Untied States by providing them with a cultural exchange of gifts.

Within mere months, both islands of Bali would be turned into a farm nation—with fields taking up nearly every acre. This was unfortunate for those simply wishing to live out in the country, however, Borneo was much larger than the island of Bali and would provide much more opportunity for housing. Naturally, though, with more freedom; comes more desires. The Liberal Faction gave the people what they wanted, but as a result, the people became more thirsty—they wanted more...

After a year of fighting, the German and Danish soldiers managed to secure the entire southern section of Sweden, but were put to a stop here. Though at first glance it would appear to be certain victory for the North German Confederation, a complete halt had been made in progression. German and Swedish soldiers fought constant battles in the south, but no progress was made on either end. By July of 1862, nearly 30,000 German soldiers had been killed, along with 12,000 Danish, and 22,000 Swedish. If this pattern of little to no progression continued, there would certainly be an armistice.

Election Day of 1862 for the United States. For long, the United States went nearly unopposed in the races, as the population heavily supported the Southern Democrats. Come this election, though, a major change of pace came. The Republican Party made a strong comeback and offered a tough fight for the Southern Democrats. It was Abraham Lincoln running for the Republican Party, against Southern Democrat candidate John C. Breckinridge. This was a tightly contested election, and if successful for the Republican Party, the United States would finally see change under _President Lincoln—_a strong advocate for the abolishing of slavery. Breckinridge, opposed slavery. Naturally, every African slave in the United States was crossing their fingers for a Lincoln victory—but this was for the white male Americans to decide for them.

Nearly every southern state was won by Breckinridge, but in the end, _every_ state to the north-east and west alike voted for the change that came with Abraham Lincoln's promises. That night, on election day, whites and blacks cheered as Abraham Lincoln won the presidential election, thus putting an end to the Southern Democrats control over the United States. With Lincoln as president, the slavery could be abolished within years. Now it was a matter of Lincoln vs. Congress—who would inevitably give Lincoln a hard time, given that it was mostly controlled by Southern Democrats. No matter what, Lincoln was prepared to ensure that no Southern Democrat ever takes power again.

Back in Asia, to the east of Bali, the people of Spanish controlled Philippines arose in massive numbers. The citizens took up arms and immediately began to destroy Spanish government buildings, burn Spanish flags, and severely wound or kill Spanish government officials. The Spanish soldiers stationed in the Philippines stood their ground, but were ultimately smashed by a tsunami of rebels. Spain quickly, in response, prepared their ships and European soldiers for an emergency reconquest of the Philippines. They only had so much time to react, however. Otherwise, the rebels would take full control of the islands and set up an impenetrable defense. For Bali, this was a great event, as a potential location for invasion was opening up. Balinese Philippines, in theory, a crazy concept; but all too possible down the road.

As the Italian Republic had recently defeated the Austrian Empire in war, there was no doubting the military authority that the pretender Italian nation held. On August 3, 1863, all remaining Italian states mutually agreed to offer themselves to the Italian Republic, fearing an inevitable invasion. The Italian Republic accepted, and thus, Italy had been unified. Regardless of whether or not this Italian Republic was the true Italy before, there was no doubting that it was now. Upon annexing the remaining Italian states, King Emanuele II of the Italian Republic stated that: "A unified Italian nation has been formed, and thus, we have gained through many hardships the right to proclaim ourselves not the 'Italian Republic', but 'Italy'." Italy now existed as a fully unified kingdom, officially adding one new major power to Europe—and shortly after, there would be two more nations.

That same month, though it would appear as though the North German Confederation had been winning, a peace treaty was signed with Sweden, thus ending the war for Norway immediately. Norway was not formed and Denmark did not gain Gotland. All in all, this war merely brought about distrust between the Swedish and German governments. One thing was obvious, the North German Confederation couldn't count on Sweden's support in any upcoming issues.

In May of 1864, the Spanish had used up what resources remained in their control to fight off the Philippine rebels, but alas, the rebels had secured over eighty percent of the Philippines. The Spanish soldiers stationed in this falling colony were surrounded, and even loyalists had now turned into rebels. The Philippine Revolutionary War was likely decided, and it was in the patriots' favor.

July 4th, 1864—Americans celebrated their national holiday, but this wasn't nearly the big event of the year. The true event on this day was taking place in Europe, where the unimaginable, yet inevitable had finally occurred. The Austrian Empire had finally taken a fall. They couldn't sustain the casualties that the Italian Republic did to their military, they were losing populace support, and even European powers saw little of a threat from the nation. Seeing through this period of weakness, King William I snickered and turned to Austria's former three German allies—Bavaria, Baden, and _Württemberg_ —one kingdom and two duchies that had all fallen out of favor of Austria. Taking advantage of the situation, the North German Confederation officially held a conference with these three lands. And the end result was worthy of every newspaper's headline worldwide—even in Bali—if they had a paper.

July 4th, 1864, the kingdom of Bavaria, and the duchies of Baden and _Württemberg, all agreed to join the North German Confederation. However, by doing so, there was no reason to continue on as the 'North German' Confederation. All of the German states had now been unified, and thus, the time had come. Throwing aside the black, white, and red flag; the new flag of a fully unified Germany had been raised over the Reichstag in Berlin. A tricolor black, red, and gold flag, representing the second German Empire, had replaced the old flag of the North German Confederation everywhere. Indeed, Germany had been created for the first time in history. Germany's first chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, took power in the Reichstag, while the Germany's first Kaiser, respectively, went to William I. Iron Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and Kaiser William I—two leaders who would, inevitably, bring change to Europe with their new extreme power. But the question now, was whether or not this new power would be misused._

_In that same month, the formation of Germany meant one thing to the Austrian Empire—that they had failed to keep the Second Reich from forming. Thus, the Austrian Empire decided to go through a major reform in order to keep up with modern times and possibly retain a strong empire. They started a dual monarchy with Hungary—thus transforming the Austrian Empire into '__Austria-Hungary__'. Within such a small time frame, three major powers had formed: Italy, Germany, and Austria-Hungary. This was the beginning of a new era in Europe._

_Following these major developments in Europe, in November of 1864, the Dutch government decided to continue their training of Bali—now seeing Bali's true potential. Noticing the terribly acute navy that Bali had, Dutch captains and admirals were sent to the Balinese islands to help train their naval academy. Teaching the Balinese, only ten percent literate, how to properly maneuver and combat with warships... was beyond difficult. Understanding that so little of these naval students could understand their own language, the Dutch were forced to demonstrate exactly how to do these things using diagrams. After extreme stress and work, the bumbling idiots, as the Dutch could only refer to them as, adopted an understanding of basic naval strategy. This would greatly assist Bali come the following months... when an invasion would occur in a far away land..._

For months, the alliance between England and the United Kingdom had ceased to exist. A disgruntled Queen Victoria had to face facts... there was no United Kingdom, not anymore. Scotland and Ireland were two very different places, but to call these two places a 'United Kingdom' was embarrassing to the British crown. Though it wasn't the greatest change, it was one worth noting; Queen Victoria enacted a title change, switching the 'United Kingdom' into the 'British Empire'. This only supported the idea that the British Crown would soon lose all control and eventually cease to exist. Victoria still owned land in Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and India. But without England, she was at a loss for words.

The biggest event in Asia, by far, came in December of 1866. Through aspirations, hard work, and military investment, the moment of truth had arrived. There was no longer a doubt in mind that Bali hadn't become a civilized nation. Citizens could communicate with one another, they were well clothed, horses were used as transportation, a railroad system had been built, a fabric factory (that's closed) in the capital, a well armed military, housing and farms being built nationwide by citizens, and a working government system. Through the thickest of struggle, Bali had jumped out of their tribal ways and into the 19th century—late—but they would have a chance to catch up now that countries worldwide began to acknowledge the Balinese nation as a legitimate country. Naturally, both the United States—led by reelected Abraham Lincoln—and Netherlands were the first to jump onto Bali with various diplomatic proposals. Uncivilized nations such as Korea, Dai Nam, and even China, now saw Bali as a potential threat.

However, immediately with the prestige of becoming great, the power went to the Liberal Faction's head. One of the very first orders of business was to push the envelope and finally start a colony. Their target was completely unexpected. Zanzibar—a small native tribe off of Africa's east coast. By successfully conquering a part of Africa, Bali could officially create a connection between Africa and Asia, and of course, this would put them closer to Europe. On November 7, 1867, Bali's government had begun to prepare for an oversea invasion that no one would suspect to be real.

Things only got better for Bali as they prepared for the invasion. In the winter of 1867, the United States made their first official trade offer to the Balinese. All American revolvers—a type of weapon the Balinese were unfamiliar with, but completely intrigued. The United States offered a maximum of 20,000 revolvers with even more ammunition. Though these were supposed to be used as sidearms, the concept of a repeating weapon was unimaginable to the Balinese, and thus, these revolvers were being used at first as primary weapons. Poor in range, but _very_ effective upon impact; the revolver was set to be the primary weapon of the Balinese as they charge toward the enemy. At long range, they would continue using their muskets.

Coincidentally, just months after this shipment, a new type of weapon had been discovered by the Balinese. The '_petirtongkat'_ was a Balinese made muzzle loaded rifle. These rifles were far superior to the flintlocks they had been using, and thus, preparations for war with Zanzibar were prolonged to ensure that each soldier was given a petirtongkat.

After final war preparations, the Liberal Faction greenlit the declaration of war on Zanzibar—only there was no forewarning given to the Zanzibaris. Without further ado, the Balinese were put onto galleys and sent onward to a new part of the world—Africa.

The trip to Africa was a magnificent, yet frightening, experience for the soldiers, captains, and admirals alike. They would be going across the globe to an unknown land, and of course, they had to fear whether or not they'd survive the trip. As for the Liberal Faction, this would be a tricky war, as communication between Bali and Zanzibar would be very distanced. It was a one shot operation on part of the Balinese.

On January 9, the Zanzibaris were shocked to find unique looking ships from Asia come to their land. 6,000 Balinese soldiers stormed the beach of Lindi, and immediately, they set up an encampment in the area. The Zanzibaris had 6,000 soldiers as well, however, they were far inferior to that of the typical Balinese soldier. It was an even match in terms of numbers, but a fight that would inevitably leave many dead on both sides.

Many months later, the entire province of Lindi had been secured by the Balinese. There was no fight, only Zanzibari submission. As for the capital village to the north, a fight awaited the 6,000 Asian troops. Before the soldiers could make their move, a tragedy had occurred. Of the two ships that the soldiers took to Africa, one ship had hit shallow water and was capsized, thus leaving Bali with one single ship. Regardless, the one ship left back for Bali to pick up one more wave of troops—which even the Liberal Faction suspected that the invasion force may need. With only one ship, only 3,000 more soldiers could arrive in Africa.

December 12 of 1869 marked the official date that Balinese general Shahabuddin led his 6,000 Balinese troops into battle with the tribal forces of Zanzibar. There the African tribe waited, across a river, with bows and rifles alike. Many of these Balinese soldiers were in disbelief at the appearance of these soldiers. Tattered clothing, no military formation, and inferior weaponry—they were basically looking at the army of Bali as they were 30 years ago.

6 days later, the Balinese ran into their first obstacle—a river without a bridge. This was a major situation that hadn't been accounted for, as the Balinese were forced to raise their equipment up into the air as they traveled across the river by foot. Surprisingly, though, the tribal soldiers of Zanzibar took up this opportunity and fired at the oncoming Balinese soldiers while they were defenseless. The river was quickly bleached with the blood of Asian warriors. Before the Balinese could even get through the river, they had already sustained 300+ deaths. Finally, the battle began, but the Balinese were at a huge disadvantage. Their uniforms were thickened with water, and their petirtongkats were jammed. The Zanzibaris continued to fight off the Balinese with combined strength, until finally, on January 10 of 1870, the Balinese were forced to retreat with only about 2,000 soldiers remaining. The Zanzibaris _did_ take a strong hit, however, and were left with around 3,000 soldiers. Rather than finishing the Balinese off, the defenders let the Asian soldiers run off, back to Lindi.

It was later to the Balinese great fortune, however, that they were met with a reinforcement of 4,000 soldiers, but not just any group of Balinese soldiers—these were freshly trained troops with new tactics they had learned back in their home country. Very fortunately, river crossing was a specialty that these soldiers came with.

Meanwhile, in Asia, Spain had finally accepted defeat to the Philippine patriots—and the independent island of the Philippines had formed. This was to the Liberal Faction's frustration, however, as this would have been a _much_ better target for invasion. A Balinese Philippines would have given the edge they so desperately needed in terms of power, but alas, they had to finish up in Zanzibar first—which the government had no information on in terms of progress.

On May 20, a fresh attack had been placed onto the Zanzibaris in their capital village. This time, however, the attack was made during the night. They crossed the river at night, then waited until morning. As the sun rose, general Shahabuddin ordered a new attack onto the village directly. The Zanzibaris had no idea that the Balinese were near, and thus, they were only half prepared for battle. Just on the outskirt of the village, a battle ensued between the two forces. The Balinese had a clear advantage, and that morning, the blood of their enemies could be found all across the village.

The battle went on for half a month, and in the end, the Balinese lost 3,000+ soldiers in the assault, the 1,500+ surviving Zanzibaris retreated into uncolonized Africa (modern day Somalia) where they would likely die from disease, hunger, and wildlife.

The Balinese soldiers worked quickly in creating control within the capital village. These citizens were of a much darker skin than the Balinese were accustomed to seeing, given their geographical location. The hardest part of this occupation was trying to communicate with the Zanzibari citizens—as it would appear, they were completely illiterate and even lacking in an understanding of speaking. But there was one thing the Zanzibaris understood well, and that was resisting...

Unknowingly to the Balinese and surviving Zanzibari chiefs, a _new tribe_ of Zanzibaris had taken up spears and shields in the province of Lindi—seeking to both remove Bali from their tribal land, and restructure their government. Technically, it was both a rebellion and liberation. The Balinese guards in Lindi were slaughtered like animals, then the 15,000+ plus strong legion of citizens ran into the capital village. The 3,000+ surviving Balinese soldiers were absolutely disgruntled at what they were seeing. Half naked men with nothing but tribal weapons, but in massive numbers. This was certain doom, regardless of what the Balinese had to fight with.

The Balinese fired every shot with no morale, but the 15,000+ citizens ultimately ransacked the village and killed every last Balinese soldier they could find. Within a mere hour, the last head had been brutally sawed off the last Balinese soldier—a shameful defeat, for a rising nation. The war officially came to a close as the Balinese galley was set on fire by the new tribe. This left Bali with not a single piece of military ready to fight. As Bali did not officially recognize Zanzibar as a country, but more so, a native tribe... they simply left them alone from here on out and chose to forget that this war had ever happened. As far as the Liberal Faction was concerned, their win/loss ratio was still 1:0.

Regardless, with the conclusion of this war, one final major step was taken toward becoming a respectable nation. On January 5, 1872... taking after their American friends... the terribly structured government of Bali had laid out a new foundation. A foundation, for democracy. From here on out, on every four years on January 5, Bali would hold an official election. Bali could officially be proud of many things over the course of these years, but above all, Bali would be known forever in the history books as the first ever Asian democracy.

To be continued...


	4. Bali's Big Rise

_This episode is mostly centered on Bali again, but does contain some interesting foreign events—including the final segment of the "USA Slave Debate" aspect of this story. But I want to go ahead and admit that there was a few tweaks here and there, I'm obviously referring to the war Bali gets into in this chapter. Trying to not spoil anything, what 'actually' happened was that the island of Bali was getting overrun by enemy troops, but in the middle of my invasion, the 30k+ soldiers on my island all turned into rebels... so... realistically, I did simply modify my game and move them back to their home country, where the revolution was occurring. THAT is how I ended up winning the war, because I sent the rebel armies from Bali back to their own country through save game modifications. So in all fairness, there's a good chance I might have lost that war, but regardless, aside from sending the rebels home, I did win this war in all other aspects of fairness. And even if it is unfair to do what I did, I think it was for the best, given that this is a story—not a showcase of my skill._

_So, here we enter from 1972, end on 1884. Almost to the 20__th__ century! (Can you believe I've survived this long? XD)_

Chapter 4 – Bali's Big Rise

April 4, 1872 would be the due date for the first Balinese presidential election. There were months to go, and so little land for candidates to debate through. The difference between a democratic United States and Bali, was that in the United States, candidates traveled many miles to speak in different states. As for Bali, each of the two islands equaled about 55 miles each. Aside from these two islands, there was Northern Borneo—controlled by Bali. This was much larger, but with less towns than the two islands. All in all, as awkward as it may be, each candidate was practically destined to run into one another throughout the election while out making speeches.

Despite all the good that the Liberal Faction had brought to the Balinese prior to forming a democratic Bali, the Liberal Faction failed to hide the simple fact of their past mistake... the mistake, that of the 12,000+ Balinese husbands and fathers to set sail for Zanzibar... not a single man returned home. The Liberal Faction couldn't keep the reality of the situation a secret, the war with a completely primitive tribe had been lost, a defeat for both Bali and the Liberal Faction—but the Liberal Faction above all. Because of this terrible war, support for the Liberal Faction decreased majorly. Now, three separate major opinions existed in Bali.

The Balinese had to decide on their first president. They could stick with the Liberal Faction and enjoy a series of continuing change, at the cost of less expansion due to their weak stance on war. They could vote in the Royal Faction once more—the party that started it all for Bali—though the complete opposite of the Liberal Faction. By electing a president from the Royal Faction, Bali would be looking at a complete halt in terms of reform, but perhaps more expansion—which means more death. Lastly, there was the _Socialist Faction_. By electing the Socialist Faction, Bali would slowly begin to transform into a _People's _Society—where equality is enforced and the workers unite for a common goal—to create a better nation and society. Of course, a socialist society also meant a heavier police presence and many more reforms. Anyone in support of conservatism would despise the Socialist Faction, and thus, the Royal Faction's candidate went out of his way to slander the Socialist Faction's candidate.

The drawback between the Socialist and Royal Faction was that the two parties spent much of their effort discrediting the other, rather than getting their word out. The Liberal Faction remained neutral in the situation, however, was unable to focus solely on their platform. The Liberal Faction, in place of discrediting a party, was forced to waste time and effort on damage control over such a horrendous war. They had to somehow convince the population that no tragic wars such as the one with Zanzibar would ever occur again. Of the three parties, the Socialist Faction had the most influence over the population, offering promises for change and new rights for the people. Given the enjoyment of private property, jobs, and a working economy—much of Bali's population agreed that perhaps more of this sort of change would be good.

Election night came, and the people of Bali waited for the results to come. The only problem with this democracy was that the only citizens allowed to vote were the richest. The Lower and Middle class citizens (about 80% of the country as a whole) were not allowed to vote. The end results were expected to be much closer, but nevertheless, there was a unanimous end to the very first election. The Liberal Faction had been removed from power in place of the Socialist Faction—the first party to win a Balinese election by a whopping 72% total vote.

That same night, immediately, the newly structured socialist congress and president announced to the Balinese public that there would be an immediate change in policy. From this day forth, citizens of Bali were now permitted to hold public meetings and rallies—previous illegal activities. This was a major step toward ultimate freedom of speech, as this ensured the citizens that they could express their opinions in civilized ways without fear of imprisonment or execution.

Clearly, Bali was looking toward massive changes down the road. The Socialist Faction followed a system of pacifism, only desiring war if it was absolutely needed. Little did the public know, the complete opposite would soon occur...

Meanwhile, in Europe, a crisis had been kick started by the British Empire and their new ally, Germany. Queen Victoria had been forced back into Scotland many years ago, the United Kingdom having been deconstructed and sent back to the 'British Empire'. Nevertheless, her lust for causing tension arose once more came with an opportunity in Lithuania—controlled by the Russian Empire. With dissent rising in Lithuania over independence, Queen Victoria, with her new ally, Kaiser William I, presented the Russian Empire with a demand to release the Kingdom of Lithuania. The general thinking was that considering Latvia had been freed many years ago with Queen Victoria's threats, perhaps a second Baltic kingdom could be freed. If successful, all that would remain to be freed would be Estonia.

Tsar Nicholas II of the Russian Empire found this demand overly ridiculous. There was no doubting Victoria's true intentions. She had freed Latvia, and in turn, gained an alliance with them; and now she wanted a second Baltic kingdom to befriend her. In the long run, she merely hoped to gain enough allies to make a comeback against England. Nicholas II saw straight through her plan like a window, and thus, used this theory against her. On April 20th, Tsar Nicholas II turned to England and offered a deal. Join Nicholas II in the crisis, and he would ensure that the British Empire cede Scotland to England—which would essentially reform Great Britain. England accepted, and soon after, France joined in with the Russian Empire.

Germany and the British Empire continued to argue against France, England, and the Russian Empire—all of which counter-argued that Victoria was actually trying to dismantle the Russian Empire piece by piece, declaring that soon after, Victoria would see to freeing Finland, Estonia, and Poland as well. Despite her rejection of this theory, the heated debate went on. Kaiser William I watched in the past as the Russian Empire practically conquered the North German Confederation twice, now he was determined to try a rematch—which would raise awareness of the true potential of a fully unified German Reich.

Between these events, on December 11 of 1872, Bali had experienced a major event for the second time—but this time it wouldn't fail. On this date, the fabric factory they had created many years ago had now been reopened. This time, however, there were Balinese citizens who were ready to work. Only 82 employees in total, but nevertheless, the money these 82 employees made left others jaw-dropped. Instantly, hundreds before thousands of citizens sought to understand the concept of machinery, hoping to one day work in this factory. Fabric wasn't an expensive resource, but necessary for a rising nation like Bali. This meant more money through trade, as nations would purchase Bali's cloth, and also more cloth for internal use. In one year, the socialist elected party brought public meetings and industry to the Indonesian country.

January 20, 1873 marked the end of negotiations between the two sides in the Lithuanian crisis. This time, Victoria's plan did not work, and Russia indeed stood ready to fight. Almost immediately, thousands of English soldiers marched into Scotland, but with different kinds of weaponry. They fought with machine guns, caliber pistols and revolvers, and very distant ranged rifles. Naturally, Queen Victoria was evacuated out of Scotland immediately and brought to Ireland.

Germany stormed into Russian controlled Poland without warning. Nearly 80,000 German soldiers, all wearing blue and red with black and gold pickelhaube helmets, took Poland by storm. The Russian Empire couldn't react fast enough to locate an area to attack—the Germans were everywhere. On the other side, Germany and France clashed blades in the Rhineland. Unlike with the Russian Empire, France and Germany had large battles of equal strength—many of which resulted in both armies retreating. It had been nearly a century since Prussia and the other German states fell constantly to Napoleon Bonaparte of the French Empire, now it was time to determine who the _true_ superpower of western Europe was, now that the German states were united.

In Bali, things only progressed positively with every day. Money was coming in, the population was supportive of change, the military was growing back, and even technology had begun to appear throughout both Bali and Balinese Borneo. It was in Borneo, however, in the winter of 1873, that a great tragedy had befallen the Balinese. For long, Bali controlled Northern Borneo, and the Netherlands owned Southern Borneo. The middle section (equaling about 50% of the entire island) had remained uncolonized, given the unpredictable environment. Nevertheless, Bali planned to eventually expand downward. This dream was cut short, however, as the flag of Spain had begun to show up throughout Middle Borneo. It was an unexpected move, but of all nations, it was the Spanish who decided to colonize in Middle Borneo.

Ultimately, the Socialist Faction felt threatened, but confident enough that their operation would fail. No Spanish explorers had been sent to map out the island, henceforth, they were merely planting down flags and declaring whatever they walked on a Spanish colony. Within a month, hopefully, any plans to colonize Borneo would have been abandoned. If not, a decade of hate would exist between Bali and Spain.

In April of 1873, the truest weapon of fear had been invented in Bali—a weapon that not a single Balinese soldier could believe. Foreigners called it the 'machine gun', and after months of careful examination on a Dutch machine gun, Bali had invented their own. The '_kacangpemburu'_, a stationary weapon that could shoot off constant bullets without stopping. The weapon would take nearly ten minutes to set up, and to fire, would require the user to constantly spin a wheel. This machine gun was primarily helpful for defensive operations. Aside from this, it was an awakening for Bali. The kacangpemburu would lead to new and better inventions in the future.

On August 10, 1873, a very unusual event unfolded for the Socialist Faction. One day, a ship bearing a never before seen set of flags appeared in Bali's port. The ship was clearly from Europe and beared a short red flag with a white cross in the center; below this was an inverted flag—a white flag with a red cross on it. Several officials came off of the ship, greeted the Socialist Faction, had tea in the parliament building, then prepared a document for signing. The officials claimed to be representatives of Switzerland—a landlocked nation in Europe. Though Switzerland does not border the ocean, Austria-Hungary offered them this vessel.

On that day, the government of Bali was presented a document for signing—the _Geneva Convention_. By signing this document, which beared the signatures of nearly all European rulers, Bali would agree to abide by a set of _laws_ when it comes to warfare. By signing this, no longer could Bali do as they plea in war, they would need to consider certain rules—such as the treatment of prisoners. This also meant that Bali could no longer declare war without warning. The Geneva Convention, as the officials explained, were watched over by the newly formed '_Red Cross'._

Despite the repercussions that could ensue by signing this document, the Socialist Faction—which advocates peace and to keep warfare to a minimum—agreed to these terms and had Bali added to the list. From here on out, if Bali were to do something that the Geneva Convention forbid, the nation could face serious sanctions by Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and other major nations. All in all, it was agreed upon to treat warfare with more respect—and to do everything possible to protect victims of war, specifically, the citizens.

In that same month of August, the crisis war in Europe hit a new low—yet, no one could tell who was winning. In Great Britain, the English had occupied half of Scotland, the French occupied half of Ireland. In a few more months, Queen Victoria would be caught and possibly even executed for causing unnecessary mayhem in Europe. For the British Empire, all seemed lost. However, the same couldn't be said for Germany. All of Poland had been occupied by the Germans, including Lithuania—the target. The Russian Empire was clearly down on their luck and without a chance. At this point, retaking all of this occupied land would be near impossible and not worth the economic hit that would come with fighting on. France and Germany continued to clash, however, it was indeed Germany who was, technically, beating France. They had merely occupied the Rhineland, but nothing else. Nevertheless, thousands of Germans and French soldiers alike died in fierce battle.

Despite the extreme gains in the British Empire, Tsar Nicholas II looked after his own empire and threw up the white flag. Lithuania was granted independence. France and England, understanding that all the Germans in Russia would soon be coming to fight France, both decided to surrender as well under terms of white peace. Nevertheless, the crisis war was won by Queen Victoria and Kaiser William I. Naturally, though, Victoria had no reason to celebrate. Had it not been for her strong German ally, the 'British Empire' would have been sent back into nothing more than Ireland. Queen Victoria dodged a fast bullet solely because of Germany. The question posed was whether Victoria would take this miracle war as a sign that she had to stop, or if she'd take advantage of her powerful ally. One thing was for certain, if she could get Germany to agree on an English invasion, they would win... and the United Kingdom would be reunited.

March of 1874 was a glorious time for the Balinese, as the concept of medicine had been researched. Some vaccines brought about cures for common diseases, others, simply eased the pain. This development was only made possible with the help of the Red Cross—who provided Bali with the tools to create such medicine. This would especially help the soldiers of Bali, who very well could find themselves traveling through diseased jungles again in the future. But perhaps on that final note, this was a coincidental time to research medicine, as a major event had struck the Socialist Faction... one that made them furious.

In the summer of 1874, it had become clearly evident to the Balinese that they had failed in colonizing Middle Borneo for themselves. The once completely silent and motionless land of Middle Borneo had suddenly been filled up with Spanish speaking colonists. Housings occurred, embassies were set up, and even ports were being constructed. This was an unacceptable offense in the eyes of the Socialist Faction and population alike. Bali, for decades now, had been transforming Borneo into a more civilized land; now the Spanish came to turn the land into a mere resting place for ships. With this logic, Spain was only causing conflict, as now there were three cultures sharing the island. Balinese, Spanish, and Dutch—but Bali only wanted to see one language spoken on this island.

On April 5, 1874, the Socialist Faction decided to respond to the colonization of Middle Borneo in a threatening way—but unknowingly to the Spanish. To further create a more powerful military, Bali had begun construction of artillery batteries—the first of its kind in Bali. If the Spanish chose to invade Northern Borneo, Bali would be destroyed by superior weaponry. To counter this, Bali had no choice but to spend extensive amounts of cash on developing weapons no Balinese soldier had ever seen before. Cannons on wheels that could fire far distances.

It was only natural with the British Empire's most recent decline that things would get worse before better, and New Zealand sending a referendum for independence only proved this point. Given that Victoria only held Scotland and Ireland, traveling all the way to New Zealand to fight patriots was, literally, the last conflict she would ever want to get in. There was no hesitation in her decision to make a counter-offer. Rather than starting a war over independence, Victoria offered independence in the form of vassalage—where New Zealand would exist, but still be forced to aid the British Empire in any conflict. The patriots in question, accepted, and New Zealand became a new country. For Bali, this was just another potential target, if New Zealand were to ever go all the way with their independence.

On January 1st, 1876, the first Balinese artillery unit had been created and merged into the main fighting force. There was, surprisingly, little misunderstanding with these new weapons. Over the decade much had changed. The Balinese were now equipped with personified rifles, American revolvers, machine guns, and now artillery batteries. The only part of the military that they lacked now was cavalry, which they could make, but preferred using horses for means of civilian transportation.

March 17 brought about the biggest news to the public. The Socialist Faction was not secretive of their new intentions, and it was a big gamble. It was declared on this date that Bali was mobilizing for war... with Spain, one of Europe's greatest. Many were caught off guard by this, wondering how Bali could possibly defeat Spain, when they couldn't even beat a native African tribe. The Socialist Faction took a second gamble, ensuring that they would not see a repeat of the war with Zanzibar. This war would take place at home, in Borneo, with the intention of seizing the newly colonized Spanish Borneo. If successful, Bali would control about 80% of the island.

The ironic part of the Socialist Faction's sudden decision to fight Spain was that Bali had just entered its second election. This election wasn't nearly as indecisive as the last. The citizens of Bali saw enough from the Socialist Faction to establish that this was the party they wanted to stay, even if they were about to send them at a powerful European power. The Socialist Faction won the election by 69% of the votes.

July 23 of 1876 marked Queen Victoria's day of ultimate regret for her past decision. At the time, giving New Zealand partial independence seemed like a good idea; but she now realized how this had backfired. In North America, citizens of Canada and Columbia (western Canadian state) took note of the deal made between the British Empire and New Zealand, and thus, made a very similar demand. Rather than asking for full out independence, both colonies demanded _partial_ independence—like with New Zealand. All the same, Queen Victoria knew that she'd lose against Canada. Scotland and Ireland did not equal an entire North American country in terms of power. She was forced to accept, and thus, Canada and Columbia broke away from the British Empire as well. Now Victoria was left with only Scotland, Ireland, India, South Africa, and Australia. Altogether, none of this massed up to what England holds militarily. The end of the British Empire was coming as well, and Queen Victoria now knew that restoring the United Kingdom was quickly becoming nothing more than a silly concept.

It was a gamble of the century. On December 20 of that year, 12,000 Balinese soldiers, all equipped with their new weaponry, lined up in Northern Borneo in preparation for an attack. Orders were given to stay on the offensive until given the green light to advance, under the Geneva Convention, Bali was now obligated to inform Spain of the declaration of war before invading. The first moment a Spanish reaction was given, nothing more than a question on Bali's motive, the hammer struck down. The 12,000 soldiers of Bali rushed into the mountains of Tarakan, where they proceeded to set up an encampment. There wasn't a single Spanish soldier to be found in all of Borneo, despite being warned, this was a completely unexpected attack by the Balinese.

The very first reaction given to Spain was by their European neighbors, even Queen Victoria couldn't help but smirk and mock the Spanish. Being pushed around by a micro nation was practically a joke, but with the Spanish having lost the Philippines, they could only send troops straight from Spain all the way to Bali. This was both a dangerous and expensive operation. Desperately, Spain's only official response to the world was that they are not at war, they are fighting an 'illegitimate country', or another way of describing Bali, 'a mere tribe'.

Through the months, the Balinese had occupied the mountains and went down into the jungles of Middle Borneo. It was here, however, that they fared much better than they did when fighting Brunei forty-some years ago. They now had medicine, clothing, and most importantly, a supply line from Northern Borneo to keep the soldiers hydrated with food and water. To add on to Spain's humiliation, the 12 heavy warships full of soldiers they had sent to Bali—the first wave—mysteriously vanished between the months of June and September. It is unknown what may have happened to the expensive fleet of soldiers, but nevertheless, nearly 30,000 Spanish soldiers never made it to Bali. No one would ever know what had happened to the missing fleet, but it is mostly conceived that they had gotten lost or fell victim to violent storms.

Regardless, this was only one fleet, Spain's second fleet made it to the island of Bali by September 30. 32,000+ Spanish troops landed on the shores of Bali, but not Borneo—the place in question. This was especially bad for the Socialist Faction, as they were situated within the island of Bali. It was expected that the Spanish would land in Borneo and try to stop the invading army—not go straight for Bali's capital city. But they did, and the Spanish were fairly relentless on the buildings and infrastructure. The parliament building of Bali was set ablaze at least five times that month, but was put out each time by loyalists. The parliament building was heavily damaged, but still strong enough to protect Bali's government officials.

Despite the massive gains in Middle Borneo, the fact of the matter was that Spain had the capital city of Bali nearly under control—much more valuable to the Balinese than Middle Borneo. A miracle had occurred for Bali, however, as in the middle of this war, a violent revolution had taken Spain by storm. The old government of Spain fell immediately to the rebels, and thus, 'Republican Spain' was born, bearing a red, gold, and purple flag, rather than the traditional yellow and red flag.

The 30,000+ soldiers of Spain continued their siege of Bali, but soon, the soldiers stopped receiving supplies for reasons that eluded them. Spain had completely ceased the distribution of water and food to the oversea soldiers, and eventually, it had become unbearable. Due to attrition, the Spanish fled Bali and returned to Spain—where the surviving armies would eventually learn that their old leaders had been replaced through revolution.

Bali failed to realize the revolution as well and would continue seizing all of Middle Borneo. By December 15, 1877, the officials of Republican Spain would have eventually returned to Middle Borneo for a checkup on the colony. When they arrived, they would be met by a fully occupied colony under the Balinese flag. The officials were captured by Balinese troops, and after much negotiations and messages to Spain, it was agreed upon that Middle Borneo held little significance to the Spanish. Reluctantly, Republican Spain ceded Middle Borneo to Bali and went on their way. With this victory came the realization that Bali now controlled 80% of Borneo as a whole, leaving only Southern Borneo under Dutch hands.

Interestingly enough, only about 20 days after the Spanish surrender to Bali, the Netherlands approached the Socialist Faction with a trade agreement. An agreement was signed, and the Balinese would transfer about $65 worth of currency to the Dutch in exchange for Southern Borneo. With this agreement made, Bali could officially establish itself as the owner of a fully unified Borneo. The great part about this agreement was that the agreement only further extended the prospering friendship between the Dutch and Balinese—two nations once destined to be great enemies.

While Bali gained, two days later, the British Empire lost even more. The exact same situation occurred with South Africa as it did with Canada and Columbia. The South Africans made their demands for partial independence. This time, however, Victoria felt as though South Africa could be controlled through mutual threats. It wasn't until the South Africans sent their threat of war that Victoria stood down and accepted the offer—a very humiliating situation for the British Crown. And so, South Africa left as well, now leaving Victoria with only Scotland, Ireland, India, and Australia. At this pace, she'd have lost both India and Australia within years. After that, it'd only be a matter of time before England decides to stop sparing the British Empire.

With Bali having full control over Borneo and no threats nearby, the government called for a dropping of weapons, and that the people of Bali should unite to work on a massive project—a project that no colony had ever gone through. The project would be both expensive and time consuming, but truly beneficial if done right. By creating railroads all around Borneo and within, Bali could create the first ever fully industrialized island of the world. If plans went correctly, every strip of land in the massive island would have a railway. This could only, respectively, be called the 'Super Railway Network'. But this wasn't all, along with this, Bali had taken an excruciatingly large loan out from the Chinese Empire which would be used to create factories all across Borneo. If successful, Borneo would become the icon of industry throughout the entire world, only best compared to Detroit in the United States. With this, would come financial prosperity.

It was only shortly after starting this project that some disturbing news had hit the world. Unknowingly to anyone, the United States had once again fallen to revolution. Democracy had once again been removed from the crippled land of many states, but this time, it was replaced with an anarchic dictatorship. This meant that there was, essentially, no true leader in the country. The police forces of the United States had been disarmed and crime soared, the slaves of the United States were so close to freedom, close enough that they could taste it. Instead of freedom, the slaves pain intensified as the country now fell under a system of no actual rules. With this logic, slaves were now permitted to be put into barb wired camps and even cages. The country was surely on the wrong path.

It was near the end of April, however, that a diplomat from the anarchic states came to Bali seeking friendship. Stunned and unaware of the immoral actions being taken against slaves, the Socialist Faction requested an elaboration of the United States' intentions. It was then that Bali was offered their first ever alliance. Without hesitation, the Socialist Faction signed off with the United States in an alliance, the 'American-Balinese Pact'. This established Bali as a direct ally of the United States, and thus, could call on America's immense strength if ever put into war. Most importantly, this alliance made Bali a less likely target. _No one_ would risk war with the United States by fighting Bali; a fight with Bali, now meant a fight with the United States. Bali, undoubtedly, was safe under the United States' cloak—but unknowingly to them, they had just signed off an alliance with slave supporting extremists. Bali was a nation that had never condoned slavery, thus making this an unlikely alliance.

September of 1878 brought about a new crisis at long last, and yet again... it was Russia taking the flak. France, who aided the Russian Empire against Germany and the British Empire, now aspired to rid Poland of Russian control—which Tsar Nicholas II thought Queen Victoria would try and do. The argument was plain and simply to liberate all of Poland from the Russian Empire, of all the crises the Russian Empire had been through, this was the most threatening. Poland was a critical asset in the Empire's power, losing this land could result in a collapse. There would be no negotiating on this matter, there would either be white peace or war—but no surrender.

Naturally, Queen Victoria joined up with France to help disarm the Russian Empire, but this led to a biased England joining Nicholas II's side of the conflict under the same terms—that England may receive Scotland if they win. Kaiser William I saw no reason to side with either ruler, so Germany remained neutral. England's entry into the conflict left Victoria at a loss for morale, as the English had proven themselves fully capable of conquering the British Empire in the last crisis war. Clearly, a hypothetical war between these four would see England vs. the British Empire, and France vs. the Russian Empire. France could very well defeat the Russian Empire, but there would be no saving Queen Victoria. Thus, Victoria had no choice but to support a white peace.

On January 30, 1879, white peace would be signed between the four, seeing little of a problem dropping tension and moving onward with their lives. Oddly enough, though, by August of that year, the exact same conflict would arise. France would once again renew the crisis to have Poland freed, only this time, Queen Victoria refrained from picking a side, and as Victoria refrained, so did England. This left England and the British Empire out, and still, Germany remained undecided. A series of the exact same arguments would ensue on the matter, a crisis between France and the Russian Empire, and no one else.

By October of 1879, it would have been made official that the Socialist Faction's plan to turn Borneo into a fully blown industry pot had succeeded. 80% of the entire island now had connected railroads that allowed citizens and military personnel alike to transverse throughout the island as needed. The only parts of the island that lacked rails were the dreadful jungles, as more work would be needed to make this _very_ desired connection. Along with the many factories that opened with the rails, Bali within months, found that its economy improved four times as much. Foreign nations purchased produced goods, and by now, over a thousand Balinese citizens had become factory workers. This was the golden moment for Bali in their history. They had become a giant island of wealth and opportunity, but of course, this also meant that foreign powers may consider seizing the industrial filled island for themselves. With the United States backing Bali up, though, this was unlikely.

After months of debate between France and the Russian Empire, Belgium had finally decided to join the Russian Empire of all nations. This was surprising, given the geographic location of Belgium. Nevertheless, Belgium's place by Nicholas II's side would create a good distraction while the Russians prepare for war. Aside from Belgium, no other nation picked a side.

The third official election of Bali took place, and to no one's surprise, the Socialist Faction won by a mighty 81% of the votes. At this point, even conservatives accepted the socialists as the superior political party of Bali. Within no more than ten years, the Socialist Faction brought about a unified Borneo, new medicine, new weapons, new jobs, and a booming economy. There was, at the moment, not a single reason to rule the socialists out of power.

To finalize the crisis in Europe, both France and the Russian Empire had been turned off on the idea of fighting because of a single matter. Germany refused transit rights to both nations, and thus, neither France nor the Russian Empire could walk through Germany to reach their enemies. This meant that ships would need to be taken to reach the desired nations. Neither France nor the Russian Empire wanted to deal with naval conflict, so a white peace was made, again.

Throughout the course of Bali's existence, the Balinese and Dutch had remained close friends. The Dutch were the ones to sell guns to Bali, to train their soldiers, to train their naval academies, and to eventually sell Southern Borneo to the Socialist Faction. One could only wonder how it was that the two nations went so long without an alliance, and finally, on March 7 of 1882, the Dutch and Balinese signed the 'Dutch-Balinese Pact', which would go finely alongside the already existing 'American-Balinese Pact'. Officially, Bali could count on both the United States and Netherlands to aid them in conflict.

April of 1882 brought about a very important event for the world. The United States, still an anarchic dictatorship, soon realized that they wanted citizen rights, but they also needed a government. Thus, a new ideology was born in North Carolina. A radical branch of socialism, the concept of '_communism_' had been born, but not officially enacted as the United States' new political party. Nevertheless, communism was a new ideology that instantly spread into Europe and beyond. Even Bali quickly became aware of the new ideology, but was set with regular socialism. Perhaps the United States could avoid becoming a communist dictatorship, but inevitably, _some_ country in the world would become the very first communist democracy, if not a fully blown proletarian dictatorship.

On June 2nd, the foundation had been created for a railroad system going through the Kuching jungle—the jungle that took the lives of hundreds of Balinese soldiers during the war against Brunei. This would be a dangerous task, but if successful, would leave all of Northern Borneo with railroads, and ever again would soldiers need to travel through the dangerous jungle on foot. On February 11, in response to these outstanding achievements, Bali had been granted an immense honor throughout the world. Bali had set the record for most successful colony in the world—at the moment. Bali had turned a dangerous island into an industrial masterpiece that brought over immigrants seeking opportunities. Undoubtedly, Bali was becoming the _United States of Asia_. Depending on where Bali expanded next, they very well could live up to the title of being considered the United States of Asia, or more respectively, '_Indonesia_'.

To close off the ten years of great success for Bali, the United States had been liberated in a flash revolution. A brief civil war had formed of loyal Republicans, led by General _James G. Blaine_ (note that historically, Blaine was the Republican candidate who lost to Grover Cleveland in the election of 1884), resulted in the second restoration of democracy to the United States. The anarchic dictatorship had been removed and the Republican Party resumed control of the United States as it was supposed to be. President Blaine had at long last seen an opportunity. Since the Southern Democrats _finally_ were at a loss, the Republican Party gained control of both congress and the presidency. As a result, at long last, a controversial but completely necessary executive order was made by President Blaine.

On May 20, 1884, President Blaine enacted the _Emancipation Proclamation_, thus freeing all Africans from slavery immediately. Unfortunately, they were too late. By now, the slaves had been tortured and murdered so much throughout the years by both the Southern Democrats and anarchic dictatorship, that only 6% of America's population were black (historically, 13% of the United States was black at this time). Nevertheless, the 6% that survived were at long last, given the long desired rights to live as they want within the United States. Most, despite the terrors of slavery, remained living in the United States.

Oddly enough, many of these freed slaves ended up leaving for Bali.

To be continued...


	5. Sovietism

_Okay, let's be honest... you can tell by the chapter cover that this one's going to be a ride... unless you're a Fanfiction reader, in which case, you should go check out the chapter cover on Deviantart or Author's Tea._

_So this chapter really focuses on Bali, and oh man, this is the chapter where Bali obtains their first rival. I gotta admit, I'm pretty damn scared to see what this rival nation does in the future, but I can thankfully say that Bali is safe for Chapter 5. Will Chapter 6 bring Bali and this rival nation into a horrid war? I don't know, but if it does, it'll be a big one..._

_About half the chapter, believe it or not, takes us into a single war between Bali and this new rival, so prepare for that. The other half focuses on Europe as extreme tension arises once again, and by 1895... the worst case scenario occurs that may very well lead to a nightmare in Europe, as it did in real life..._

_Enjoy the final chapter ending in the 19__th__ century, by the end of Chapter 6, we will have officially entered the 20__th__ century. And boy, will that be something... _

Chapter 5 – Sovietism

By May of 1884, Bali had entered an age of much success—prosperous achievements that even some of the greatest powers of the world wished for. Nevertheless, Bali was still a long distance away from becoming one of the greats. By now, there was no doubting Bali's legitimacy as a country. Much of Bali's success came with the intense gamble the Socialist Faction had taken. By constructing railroads and factories all over Borneo, industry had become one of the greatest aspects of the country. Each factory had about 30-50 workers, with many more citizens educating themselves in machinery so that they too could land a job in one of Bali's many facilities. With a working super railway and efficient factories, Bali's economy had fired like a bullet to the point where foreign countries took out loans from Balinese banks.

Along with industry, forts had been constructed everywhere to ensure the continuing prosperity of the common Balinese worker. The forts were all made from stone and safely protected Balinese interests from potential future attacks.

The literacy of the Balinese population continued to increase. Since 1860, the overall literacy had increased from about 10% to 19%, this meant that nearly a quarter of the total population could read, but alas, the Balinese remained for the most part an illiterate people. At this rate, however, it could be expected that the population would be more than 50% literate by the first quarter of the 20th century.

Finally, Bali enjoyed yet another advancement through these years. Each and every war galleon had officially been deconstructed by the Balinese navy in place of four commerce raiders. The commerce raider was a steamship disguised as a common unarmed merchant vessel, however, in actuality, the ship possessed great weaponry. This officially put a close to the chapter of history where Bali used warships with sails. The troop transports, however, retained sails. This was something to be fixed shortly.

By May of 1884, the Socialist Faction of Bali could look upon their progress brightly. The workers united were bringing Bali fame and fortune, and their neighbors were clearly envious. It was on this day, however, that peace had finally been broken. Just across from Balinese Borneo was the Philippines, now independent from Spain. Throughout the month of May, there had been continuing unrest within the island nation. With the introduction of communism from the United States, the Philippines had an alarming rise of communists and socialists alike within their borders. Nevertheless, the Filipino population remained strongly on the side of traditional conservatism.

The Socialist Faction saw this unrest as an opportunity like no other. It was only now that the Philippines would have their guard down in case of a communist revolution. This was the perfect time, despite the superior strength of the Philippines, to create a new invasion. On May 23, 1884, the president of the Socialist Faction convened with his fellow socialist congressmen. It was ultimately agreed on that war should be considered against the Filipino government in a bid to annex _Mindanao—_or southern Philippines—into Bali's country. This would weaken a potential threat and bring about more land for the Balinese to work in. The justification used for this war was that they were 'liberating' oppressed Filipino socialists from the monarchy's grasp.

October 18 saw the end of sailing ships altogether within the Balinese navy. Troop transports were now comprised of steamer ships that could carry about the same amount of troops that a clipper transport could, however, these ships possessed better weaponry and speed. War with the Philippines would be an excellent test for these ships.

As suspected by the Socialist Faction, on March 23, 1885, a potential nightmare became reality for the Filipinos. After months of heavy unrest, constant rebellions, and brutality against the police; the monarchy controlling the Philippines had collapsed at long last. In place of this monarchy came regular socialist led anarchy, then finally, a new type of government altogether. Flags nationwide had changed from blue, white, and red to a solid red block of fabric bearing a soviet insignia in the corner. It was on this date that the world's very first communist dictatorship had formed, coincidentally, right next to Bali.

The first order of business for the newly led communist dictatorship was to confiscate the weaponry of the population—a weapon ban. This would ensure a future where the Filipinos are unable to rise up and overthrow the soviet government. The premier of this new government was hostile, pro-military, and anti-Balinese. It was only ironic that the Filipino government send the Socialist Faction of Bali a threat. If Bali refused to cede Northern Borneo to the Filipinos, war would be enacted. The irony of the situation was that Bali had already been preparing for war, the fact that they would now be fighting a tyrannical dictatorship only helped the Socialist Faction come up with justification for war.

Rather than sending the Philippines a response to their demand, Bali sent their new ships over to the Philippines in the form of a blockade, then sent a declaration of war with their demands on October 3rd. Immediately following the war declaration, Balinese troops landed in the hills of Mindanao and proceeded on with their occupation. The Balinese navy in the meantime blockaded many islands to ensure that no enemy armies make their way down to Mindanao.

On the same day that Bali declared war on the soviet Philippines, in Europe, Germany and Austria-Hungary found themselves fighting Italy—of whom had stayed quiet and innocent to this very day. The general thinking behind Germany's decision to press war was that a unified Italy was too peaceful and lacking in support during times of crisis. Thus, the plan to liberate a second Italy was declared—the revival of the 'Italian Republic'.

By December 14, 1885, the war Italy found itself in had taken a turn for the worst. The Germans and Austrians quickly swallowed all of northern Italy with immense armies to the point where the Italian banks went bankrupt. Even Bali had suddenly found Italy declaring that they couldn't pay back the loan they took. This offered Bali just reason to test war, but of course, they wouldn't. Austria-Hungary only made things worse by demanding part of northern Italy. Regardless, Italy would fight on until March 1st of 1886, where they would be forced to accept surrender. In the end, the Italian Republic had returned to Europe in the form of an island. The Italian island of Sardegna was all Italy offered the reborn Italian Republic.

May 30 brought about great success to the Balinese in their risky war with a communist Philippines. 12,000 Balinese soldiers—3,000 of which were artillery—had occupied half of Mindanao and were prepared for their first battle with the Filipinos. The Balinese moved into the Davao jungle to combat 3,000 Filipino soldiers of the _New People's Army._

The Balinese marched through the jungle without any issues, and on June 8 set up a line adjacent to the 3,000 Filipinos. Immediately off the bat, a strong amount of 1,050 Filipino soldiers had immediately perished as the Balinese unleashed an artillery array upon them. After this, the 12,000+ Balinese army crossed the small river keeping the two armies apart and initiated their attack on the _1__st__ Zanboonga infantry_.

The battle lasted for three days. June 9, one Balinese infantry brigade moved back near the artillery batteries to open up for another destructive attack. Combined with the shooting of rifles, this day ended with 900+ Filipinos dying. By the morning of June 10, only 392 Filipinos remained fighting, but stood their ground until the very end. On June 11, all 3,000+ of the 1st Zanboonga infantry had perished, while only 386 Balinese riflemen had died. Following this battle, the occupation of west Mindanao continued.

Word of the Balinese great success against the New People's Army of the Philippines brought about a new controversial debate: Should Bali expand their war goal by adding Visayas—the center islands of the Philippines—to their demands. Unless the communist nation could demonstrate a better defense, there was no reason why the Socialist Faction would shoot down such a proposal for expansion. Still, the government hadn't made it official that they would be annexing 66% of the Philippines. As it stood, this was a debate, and Bali would still aim for conquering 33%.

It was finally in May of 1887 that the New People's Army mustered together a massive total of 45,000 conscript infantry for battle against Bali's 12,000 invasion force. Statistically, Bali would stand no chance against this army. Fortunately, Bali had a navy powerful enough to keep the massive army from leaving the northern islands. For the time, Bali could resume their invasion without fear of attack. This would be the case unless the Philippines could acquire warships and break the blockade.

The debate to conquer Visayas along with Mindanao had been concluded as soon as the Balinese completed their occupation of Mindanao. On January 29, 1888, new orders were given to Bali's 12,000 strong army. Rather than defending Mindanao from the New People's Army, they would move across islands and begin to occupy the islands of Visayas. If successful, Bali could walk away with 66% of the Filipino in their grasp. This would, respectively, bring Bali close to becoming an empire.

On February 20, 1888, the second battle of the war had commenced. About 11,000 soldiers (the artillery batteries had fallen behind) entered battle with 2,000+ Filipino soldiers on the island of Tacloban. The battle was swift, and unfortunately, left 633 Balinese soldiers dead, but a victory nevertheless. The challenge of staying alive in this scenario was that the soldiers had to cross not a river, but a body of water in order to fight. This left twice as many soldiers dead on Bali's part than the first battle.

August 20, 1888, brought about an interesting event, possibly of positive interest to the new communist dictatorship of the Philippines. On this date, Hawaii had declared itself a communist dictatorship and used the Philippines' government as the basis for their political structure. This established two communist dictatorships in the world, both of which would certainly be allies. This was concerning to not only Bali, but respectively, the United States as well—a nation of capitalism, the enemy of communism.

Following Hawaii's conversion into a proletarian dictatorship, the USA had finally gotten itself invested into Bali's war. U.S. president _Grover Cleveland_ would praise Bali's war against the communist Filipino nation, deeming it as more so a war against oppression, than that of imperialism. Despite the misinterpretation, Bali would nod its head and go on to look at the war in this same light. As far as anyone else knew, Bali was merely liberating the Filipinos and bringing them Balinese democracy—and nothing else.

Already, success was being found in Visayas as well. The island of Tacloban had been successfully seized, and so, the 11,000+ Balinese army moved into the island of Cebu—which was unprotected by enemy troops. The New People's Army had a set of 3,000+ soldiers waiting on a neighboring island, which was of little concern to the 11,000 soldiers of Bali. Little did they know, the Philippines had a secret card to play in the coming months that would greatly disturb the war effort for Bali.

May of 1889 brought about some surprising news for the entire world, an inevitable event that could have certainly come sooner. On this month, it was widely recognized that the large island nation of Japan had westernized. The nation adopted industry, a modern military, modern clothing, and had even adopted the most modern form of transportation. For Bali, this could either be a good or bad thing. If possible, the Socialist Faction would rather see an alliance between the Japanese and Balinese than a rivalry. One thing was for certain, the Balinese mustn't ever see a Filipino-Japanese alliance, or this could easily bring about an end to Bali.

The Balinese navy had been demonstrating great things during this war with the Philippines. Things would only get better with the technological discovery of ironclads. While Bali lacked the type of ports needed to host such a ship type, the blueprints needed to create such a war machine had indeed came. The ironclad was, essentially, the earliest form of a battleship. Made of metal and fitted with cannons, if Bali could successfully bring these ships into their navy, they would surely have naval dominance over their neighbors—perhaps even one as powerful as the Netherlands.

Undoubtedly, the war between Bali and the Philippines was long. There were only two battles up to this point, both of which combined only resulted in the loss of about 900+ Balinese riflemen. As it would appear, the communist dictatorship would soon find itself without 66% of the land it currently owns, and Bali would transform into a set of three regions.

Just as all seemed fit for Bali, a tragedy had unfolded. On the night of June 23rd, 1889, the three commerce raiding ships of the Balinese navy had suddenly been attacked by three Filipino commerce raiders. Getting the initial attack put the Balinese navy in a major disadvantage, and thus, all three ships were forced to flee or risk sinking in battle. This officially broke the blockade that was keeping 49,000+ Filipino soldiers out of Visayas. The Balinese government was immediately informed of the breach and that an army four times the size of Bali's would soon; firstly, kill all 11,000+ Balinese men occupying the nation. Secondly, liberate everything they had taken. Within months, all of Bali's progress could be for nothing.

There was a bright light, however, but it'd require careful lying. The Balinese knew of the 49,000+ soldiers that the New People's Army possessed, but the communist government didn't have an estimate on Bali's troop amount. Thus, Bali for a time had the advantage of mystery on their side. Quickly, the Socialist Faction approached the Filipino government and offered a deal. If the Filipino government would surrender now, they'd scratch off the demand for Visayas and revert back to their original demand: Taking Mindanao—33% of the whole nation.

This was a risky offer for peace, simply because if the Filipino government declined, they'd discover that the Balinese military was lacking, then proceed to turn the tide of the war and, indeed, conquer Borneo. Very miraculously, though, the communist dictatorship took the safe route and accepted the sole term for peace—thus ending the war effective immediately on June 23rd. Despite having the much larger army, the Philippines lost to Bali and ceded Mindanao. In the end, Bali failed to conquer Visayas, but still managed to walk off with their original war goal.

The months following peace would not bring good terms between the two governments, however. From here on out, Bali would consider the communist Filipino dictatorship as their one major rival and biggest threat. Likewise, the Philippines would label Bali as a major threat and deem them as a natural enemy—one that would suffer one day. The New People's Army would quickly continue growing in hopes of one day taking Mindanao back from Bali. An age of fierce rivalry had ensued. A socialist democracy versus a communist dictatorship.

While one major war ended, a much bigger war started elsewhere. In Europe, a massive war had started respectively labeled as the '_German-Franco War_'. This was a war between two alliances. France, Switzerland, the Ottoman Empire, the Empire of Mexico, Argentina, and the Russian Empire. Opposing this alliance was Germany, Morocco, Brazil, the Italian Republic, and Denmark. This war was started over the French liberation of Elaß-Lothringen—disputed land between Germany and France. On Germany's side was Kaiser Wilhelm II, who would defend against French President Marie François Sadi Carnot—the attacker.

The German military would quickly take Russian controlled Poland by storm, then Switzerland. The Swiss were most often a neutral nation in conflicts, and thus, were not prepared for a German invasion. The country was doomed to fall in this war as a result. As for the Russian Empire, they fought bitterly against Wilhelm II's German armada, but would ultimately struggle to keep control over the situation—mostly due to not being ready. France and Germany would clash blades quite evenly.

During the German-Franco War, a recently damaged Italy would find itself in great trouble. Still facing bankruptcy, a damaged military, and a disgruntled population, the Italian nation would be destined to become the very first _major_ communist dictatorship. The Italian monarchy would fall, and thus, the _People's Republic of Italy_ would come to be. This would normally be of immense concern to Europe, however, the German-Franco War was too distracting. This would give the People's Republic of Italy time to develop.

On January 26, 1890, Switzerland would manage to slip away from the German-Franco War by offering Germany transit rights. This was very treasonous of their alliance with France, as the transit rights would allow German troops to enter France from Switzerland. This was, in fact, a tragedy for the French effort, as German soldiers would pour into the French mainland in thousands. France would immediately find its military line collapsing, meanwhile, the Russian Empire would find itself close to defeat, as German soldiers begin their occupation of Russian Belarus and Ukraine.

War would continue to go badly for France and the Russian Empire, and eventually, a strong France would soon find itself getting walked over by the jackboots of thousands of German infantrymen. Before reaching Paris, Kaiser Wilhelm II would deliver the ultimate humiliation in the form of a peace offer. Just for the good laugh, Wilhelm II would offer a simple peace treaty—no gains or losses. The implication was that neither France nor Russia had anything that Germany wanted, at the time. And so, the German-Franco War, technically, ended in a truce—but Germany walked off with the prestige. A war that cost the lives of nearly a million men was nothing but a joke to the Kaiser.

Following this tough war, a crisis would occur against the Russian Empire, delivered by Austria-Hungary. A challenge demanding Poland's independence would yet again come to the Russian table, and Tsar Alexander III of Russia wouldn't have it. Through brilliant arguments on the Russian side of the debate, Alexander III had won over the support of Belgium and France. With France once again offering their support to the Russians in a potential war, Alexander III turned the table and very hostilely threatened to start a war over Bohemian independence—as Austria-Hungary controlled Bohemia. This threat enlisted the attention of a 70 year old Queen Victoria, who then proceeded to side with Austria-Hungary. Fearing that the British Empire's large navy could greatly damage the war effort, the crisis had ended with a truce on November 25, 1890.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe, Bali and the Philippines had their official first round of diplomatic talks on December 9 of 1890. The president of Bali had taken a trip to Manila, Philippines for a round table discussion with the communist dictatorship. The intention was to, simply, ease any tension between the two nations, but backfired greatly. One comment led to another comment, and ultimately, both sides of the table ended up ending the discussion on worse terms than ever. This further boiled tensions between the two nations, if not nearly slam them back into war. Even so, this day marked the end of the final war occurring in Egypt. From June 1st, 1890, the entire world would be at peace for a 5 whole years.

It was in June 30 of 1890 that Queen Victoria receive her latest hit—basically a routine happening at this point. As expected, the success of New Zealand as an independent nation led Australia to finally offer their threat for independence. Without questioning the Australian government, Victoria did as she did with all colonies—she allowed Australia to exist independently as a vassal of the British Empire. This was of major significance to Bali, of course, given the geographic location of the two nations. For Bali, this was either a new partner or potential enemy. Fate would pave either path for the two nations.

The race for Japan's respect would persist between Bali and the Philippines. Japan was a nation of great military power and tradition, but it had no relational stance on Bali nor the Philippines. This meant that an alliance with either of the two was very possible depending on many factors. Bali got the first tally in the race for friendship on September 30, 1891, when a large loan of 30,356 guilders was taken out of Bali by Japan. This was a perk Bali had over the Philippines—money. With this large loan came the first piece of positive influence Bali had over Japan, the fact that Bali could buy Japan out of issues. Of course, this all depended on whether or not Japan could keep up with their loans. If not, a complete backfire could arise that leaves Japan allying with the Philippines out of fear of Bali. For the time, however, the loan would be seen as a sign of partnership between the two nations.

More than a year later, the world had been relieved to find a dodged bullet. The People's Republic of Italy, despite having _tried_ to ban civilian weaponry, had been overthrown 2 years after forming. Thus, a more lenient non-communist dictatorship had restored Italy. As a result, Hawaii and the Philippines would remain the only communist dictatorships—for the time being.

1893 would bring about even more prosperous advancements to the Balinese. Firstly, in February of 1893, the Balinese would make an amazing technological breakthrough that not even some of the greatest of world powers had come up with. The concept and completed blueprint for a _battleship_. This would be a ship like no other, a warship fitted with the most powerful weaponry available, the greatest armor welded within factories, and a size that would leave any admiral or captain trembling in their boots. The only drawback would be the immense cost to build a warship of such capability. Not even one as prosperous as Bali could simply pull out a battleship upon requisitioning, they would need larger ports and more money.

The second and most amazing discovery would arrive in Borneo. For long, many had believed central Borneo to contain little to nothing in terms of natural resources. Little did anyone know, underneath this seemingly useless land, remained an ocean of oil. Now it was official that _any_ country in the world would lick their lips to Bali's image. Even an ally like the United States would immediately find itself wanted Bali's oil. This was indeed a discovery of incredible value, as it would make an already striving economy even more powerful. On the darker side of things, this gave the communist regime of the Philippines more incentive to plot an invasion—something that was destined to happen again eventually.

In January of 1894, to add on to Tsar Alexander III's already existing migraine, England, still independent from the British Empire, decided to start up the very common and controversial crisis of freeing Poland. By now there was no doubting that the Russian Empire would never hear the end of this crisis. Not only did the people of Poland demand independence, but now all neighbors of the Russian Empire demanded this as well. It was only a matter of time before France, a long time ally, would join in on the demands. But for now France remained a faithful ally and thus sided with Alexander III immediately.

February 6, 1894, amidst the crisis, many countries worldwide—including Bali—were surprised to find the Ottoman Empire refusing to pay back their loans. First there was confusion, many countries believing this to be plain aggression, but then the surprising reality came to be that the Ottoman Empire had gone bankrupt. Following the bankruptcy came both a Bulgarian and Iraqi uprising that the empire struggled to withstand against. Despite so many countries around the world having just reason to declare war on the Ottoman Empire, all countries sit and wait to see if the empire will collapse on itself. It's likely that both Bulgaria and Iraq will soon find independence from the empire, but only time would tell.

The crisis for Poland, again, ended up resolved with a truce on part of Queen Victoria siding with England. The crisis did, however, come very close to resulting in war. Citizens all across Europe would celebrate yet another avoidance of war, but little did they know, in exactly one year, they'd see the worst war history had _ever_ seen...

June 25, 1894, marked a significant day for both Balinese and Filipinos. On this day, the peace treaty between the socialist democracy and communist dictatorship had expired. It was now legal to declare war on each other yet again. Unsurprising to many, both countries immediately mobilized on the day of the treaty's expiration. 21,000+ Balinese soldiers were immediately drawn up to Mindanao, and likewise, 59,000+ soldiers of the New People's Army arrived in the islands of Visayas. The only thing keeping the two countries out of war was the fairly sized navy of Bali that was on standby between the two regions of islands. If these ships were to disappear for even a day, undoubtedly, the Philippines would invade the following day.

Bali and the Philippines were on the brink of war, and unfortunately, nothing could possibly prolong the massive war from starting if these Balinese ships were to let their guard down. The 2nd Balinese-Filipino War would be one like no other if it were to occur, and it could potentially bring about the end to Bali's success if they let the Filipinos into Borneo. But on the other hand, if the Balinese employed brilliant strategy, there could be a completely different turnout that results in the Philippines losing more land. Bali had the benefit of a large navy, while the Philippines had a large army. It was anyone's game.

The 2nd Balinese-Filipino War would be _nothing_ in contrast to the war occurring in Europe, that June. For it was on June 6th, 1895, that Germany and France found themselves at war yet again. But this time, there were many more participants in the war, more lethal weaponry, and higher stakes.

This could only, respectively, be called '_World War I_'... and undoubtedly, millions would die...

To be continued...


	6. World War I

_Well, this is the big chapter we've been waiting for, and no, Bali makes no appearances—despite the story's title. This chapter will only last for five years—the duration of World War I._

_Now, since most if not all of you are unfamiliar with Victoria II, let me explain the difference between a World War and regular was in-game. A regular war is usually fought between 2-7 countries over one or two things. In a regular war, a peace treaty can be signed where no one suffers in the end. In a World War, we're looking at 6-30 countries with many possible repercussions to losing and __no__ possibility of a white peace—a faction __has__ to lose. As one would probably imagine, the death toll of a World War is going to be colossal, so this is where we'll be seeing some serious depopulation as a result of warfare. Fortunately, Bali evaded entrance into World War I, but perhaps they'll play a role in World War II. I'm just going to say it now without spoiling much; World War II better stay away, or the world is seriously going to suffer the consequences. This World War had far too many casualties._

_Before we begin, here's how __actual__ World War I happened in history:_

_In 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria had been assassinated. As a result, tension flared between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. Within a short period following the assassination, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. There was an unfortunate chain reaction, however. Austria-Hungary had an alliance with the German Empire (and at some point the Ottoman Empire). To honor this alliance, the German Empire entered the war. Taking side with Serbia, France and the Russian Empire joined in the war against Austria-Hungary and the German Empire; the United Kingdom later joined in with the Triple Entente as they fought the Central Powers. Sooner or later, more countries picked sides, mostly the Allies. The United States intervened on the Allies' side much later in the war after the German Empire attempted to get Mexico on their side with the promise of returning several U.S. states (former colonial states of Mexico). By the end of WWI, Kaiser Wilhelm II surrendered to the Allies. As a result, the Allies enforced harsh punishment on the Central Powers. Austria-Hungary was deconstructed and turned into many smaller countries (Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, etc.), while the German Empire paid the price of unfairly high war reparations—where they'd need to routinely pay back the Allies for World War I. Along with this, the German Empire was converted into the 'Weimar Republic'. Due to the weak economy as a result of war reparations and other things, a rise of communism and fascism came into Germany. By 1933, as a result of World War I, Germany would rise back up from the ashes seeking revenge under a new Nazi government. Also, World War I brought about the revolution that led to the Soviet Union._

_The moral of the story here is that World Wars cause very bad rises when it comes to ideological powers, mostly because of economic repercussions of war. Regardless of who wins the war, both sides suffer economically to a major extent._

_In this chapter, who will be the contesting nations, what factions, what demands, and what repercussions? Will the defeat of an empire lead to a communist/fascist dictatorship in the future? Will any countries go through great depressions? Or might some countries, literally, lose most of their population to war? Rise of Bali has reached the peak of madness—World War I._

Chapter 6 – World War I

June 6th, 1895, war had been declared yet again on Germany by French president Félix Faure. Years ago the Franco-German War had been pressed by France for the exact same reason, to liberate Elsaß-Lothringen from Germany. This was a strip of land between Germany and France and would always serve as the first battleground between the two nations. Only a mad person would dare choose to live in this region and hope to live a peaceful life. Now war had come for this land yet again, nothing more. Respectively, this started out as the _2__nd__Franco-German War_.

Initially, conflict grew as a personal war became more public. Rather than a classic game of Germany versus France, England and the Russian Empire joined the war as natural allies of France. This left Germany in a tight position, but fortunately, Kaiser Wilhelm II had Sweden, Denmark, Republican Spain, Brazil, and the newly restored Italian Republic, which was now located on a small island. Even so, these German allies didn't fully balance the conflict. However, quickly down the road, more great powers intervened; most notably Austria-Hungary, Italy, the Ottoman Empire, and the Empire of Mexico. Likewise, Germany brought in the British Empire, Free Duchy of Austria, Morocco, and even the communist dictatorship of Hawaii. To finalize the deal, Japan, a new western nation, joined on the side of Germany. This caused the Chinese Empire to join in on France's side.

Before July of 1895, the entire world had become involved in what would go on to be seen as _World War I_, or the _Great War_.

The lines were drawn. Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany had formed the '_Central Powers_', members comprising of: **Germany**, **Brazil**, the **British Empire**, the **Italian Republic**, the **Free Duchy of Austria**, **Denmark**, **Morocco**, **Republican Spain**, **Japan**, **Sweden**, and **Hawaii**. Though many of these nations were weak, each came with their unique contribution. Whether it be Germany's unnatural land based military, the British Empire's massive navy, Sweden's winter terrain, or Morocco's hot environment.

On the other side stood Félix Faure of France and his faction, the '_Iron Alliance_', which was comprised of: **France**, the **Russian Empire**, the **Empire of Mexico**, **Switzerland**, the **Ottoman Empire**, **England**, the **Chinese Empire**, **Austria-Hungary**, and **Italy**. The most notable perk the Iron Alliance had was the benefit of a four front war. Germany serving as the main combatant would need to deal with France to the west, the Russian Empire to the east, Austria-Hungary, Switzerland, Italy, and the Ottoman Empire to the south, and England to the north. This meant that the German military would need to separate their forces accordingly if they hoped to win.

The United States was easily viewed as the necessary key to victory, for this was a country that would be nearly impossible to invade, and of course, very difficult to beat. The current president of the United States was Grover Cleveland. Though he was interested in World War I, the United States still found itself under reconstruction after their most recent civil war. Economically and militarily, it was feared that the United States may be ill for battle, so they remained neutral. It was no secret, however, that if the United States were to pick a side, it would be the Central Powers. The U.S. government believed France, the original offender, to be in the wrong—inviting eight other countries into the war only further harmed their position as villains.

The Reichstag of Germany worked prominently in getting the U.S. government to see things their way, Wilhelm II had one major piece of support in doing so—Queen Victoria of the British Empire. Despite past conflict, Queen Victoria had grown much more favorable to the United States over the years and would likely reach an alliance in the coming years—if she could survive this conflict.

July 1st, 1895, marked the first day of combat—the point of no return in the field of peace. On this day a massive amount of 272,000+ German soldiers stormed into Russian controlled Poland well equipped for combat. The German troops came equipped with far superior equipment, thus making their initial entrance into Poland a nightmare for Tsar Nicholas II. Only small battles were fought in Poland, instead, the Russian military moved toward the city of Danzig and proceeded to occupy parts of East Prussia—the furthermost part of Germany. For the occupation, the Russian military milked out about 57,000 soldiers, threatening enough of a size to keep the Germans away for a time.

A surprising turn of events came with either a clever or foolish move on the German military's part. The Swiss had been surprised to find 133,000 German troops entering their small mountainous country, rather than France. The goal was likely to quickly occupy Switzerland, remove them from the war, then use the land as an additional way of getting into France. Switzerland was, in fact, the reason France had lost the Franco-German War, as the Swiss defeat led to many German troops flooding into France.

The Swiss did not let the Germans come in without a fight, though. Initially, 18,000+ Swiss soldiers banded together to fight 71,000+ Germans in the forests and mountains of their homeland. Naturally, the Swiss would lose, but they would take down about 9,000+ Germans by the end of the week.

The French, despite being the attackers, found themselves fighting off the German invaders with about 147,000 troops. Because of the heavy focus to the east and in Switzerland, Germany could only throw 105,000+ troops into France. This total amount was divided into four large German armies, two of which were fighting in the Rheinland, unsuccessfully, the other two occupied behind enemy lines.

Four days following these many conflicts, 66,000+ English soldiers marched straight into the Lowlands of Scotland, but were surprised for the first time as it was indeed the British Empire that came with an advantage. The 66,000+ army of England was surprised with Queen Victoria's 81,000+ army of combined Scottish and Irish troops. Along with bombardments from the shore, the English troops suffered Victoria's intensive wrath for sixteen days. On the 21st, the British armies would be faced with English reinforcements, and thus the success would be short lived. Now it would be 89,000+ English soldiers towering over 47,000+ British soldiers. This was a battle destined to end in defeat for the British Empire, and worst of all, this would inevitably lead to a successful invasion of Scotland.

All the way through July, Germany would continue to have fruitful experiences with Poland, eventually seizing Warsaw and moving toward Russian controlled Belarus. The Russian invasion force of East Prussia would ultimately be scared off and sent back to Russian controlled Lithuania. At this rate, the Russian Empire would fall defeated within the coming months. The Germans outnumbered them, had superior technology, and were employing brilliant invasion strategies.

July 26th, 1895, the Free Duchy of Austria would be occupied by Austro-Hungarian troops, and thus, this would be the first country to throw up the white flag and surrender. Kaiser Wilhelm II and his allies all condemned the Austrian duchy as a traitor, but ultimately, one could have expected such a small nation to fall in a war of this magnitude. Nevertheless, the Central Powers had lost their first member.

On this same day, the British armies in the Lowlands continued to perish under brutal English fighting. Many armies were left without supplies and morale, and thus, very little of the English fighting force was taking harm at this point. There was no doubting that the British Empire's European military was to be vanquished by the end of the month. On a brighter note, however, the British Empire had managed to sink every last naval warship of England—leaving the English kingdom completely blockaded and vulnerable to outside attacks.

The Central Powers had later been informed of the very first 'side dish' demand to go along with France's claim on Elsaß-Lothringen. England demanded control over the Lowlands, which would cut Scotland in half under English control. Queen Victoria knew this couldn't happen, she couldn't lose the war and allow for England to conquer half of Scotland. History was truly repeating itself, if England had its way by the end of World War I, then truly, the United Kingdom would one day return—but not under the British Crown.

A month later, August 22nd, it had become official that the British army had been completely vanquished. English soldiers quickly moved in to occupy all of Scotland, however, the British blockade on England made it impossible for the English to cross over into British Ireland—where Queen Victoria resided during times of war. Given the lacking navy of England, Victoria could sleep well knowing that she and the Irish people are safe. This went without saying, though, she was merely prolonging the inevitable if her allies couldn't rescue her.

More trouble came for the Central Powers as France successfully occupied the Rheinland from German control. This demonstrated that the German military was struggling to fight France, the leader, and this was almost certainly because of the German invasion to invest forces into Switzerland first. Still, German forces remained in mainland France and even managed to occupy land. It was only fair to consider the war between Germany and France as a stalemate. On the eastern front, Germany had occupied all of Poland and continued into Belarus, Lithuania, and Ukraine. The Russians, still, had yet to reveal any might like they used to against the North German Confederation. Surprisingly, the one nation to have remained untouched was Austria-Hungary. The Austro-Hungarians found themselves aiding Switzerland and the Russian Empire, while they could have been using the time to invade Middle Germany.

September 15th, 1895, Scotland's capital city of Edinburgh falls to the English, this leaves British Scotland under pressure of full occupation. Still, Ireland remains untouched due to an unbreakable blockade. To Victoria's credit, this was giving the British Empire enough time to muster up a fully Irish army.

It was on this same day that armies from Republican Spain came together and moved in to occupy France. This was to be expected, but not so early in the war. For the Iron Alliance, this was unfortunate timing, as the French had only just begun to succeed in their invasion of Germany. Because of Spain's appearance, the French would be forced to divide their fighting forces and send many down to fight on the Spanish border.

Five days after these events, citizens of south-west Germany gradually began to see an increase in French, Italian, Swiss, and Austro-Hungarian flags. The truth of the matter was that Baden and Bavaria had both begun to fall under control of the Iron Alliance, this was bad, for Bavaria served a serious role in both Germany's economy and military.

A month later brought more bad news to the Reichstag. In early October, a breach had finally been found within the German offensive wall near Belarus, and thus thousands of Russian troops managed to break the organization of their attackers. As a result, armies began to move around the place and the Russian armies finally made their debut into the war as fierce warriors. Belarus was as far as the German forces would go for now, as the Russians would go on to immediately push every German army straight back into eastern Poland. To help counter this situation, Wilhelm II signed the order to have over 100,000 German soldiers brought from France all the way to Poland, the remainder of the occupying forces were sent back into Germany to help liberate Baden and Bavaria. This officially marked the end of Germany's working invasion on France, and indeed, they now found themselves on the defensive—at least to the west.

November of 1895 brought about a reality where 80% of Scotland had fallen to the English, but on a brighter note, the Germans had sent the French away from the homeland and even found time to begin a full occupation of Switzerland. Lastly, the long lasting revolution of the Ottoman Empire had ended. For more than a year, the Ottomans fought against Iraqi and Bulgarian nationalists seeking independence. With the internal issues out of the way, the Ottoman Empire could finally lend what support they could to the Iron Alliance.

Through the winter of 1895, Scotland had been fully occupied, but the English government saw no possibility of entering Ireland with the blockade in progress. There was, however, luck in the English Channel, where French ships had managed to clear a path for the English. This opportunity was immediately taken up, and thus, over 75,000+ English soldiers landed in France to assist against Germany. This, naturally, left to a strain in relations between Kaiser Wilhelm II and Queen Victoria. There was no tear shed on Wilhelm II's face come the day where England added the demand to have the British Empire's military cut in half after the war. This would mean that half of the British armies would need to disarm, and half of their ships would need to be dismantled. This, of course, only applied under the circumstances that the Central Powers lose.

U.S. Grover Cleveland in the meantime drew out support within the national community for intervention into World War I. Congress remained questionable on the necessity of joining the Central Powers, given that the war would be painful to endure. Cleveland, however, argued that the Iron Alliance's decision to add war goals against the British Empire for a war they didn't start was a clear demonstration of imperialism in contrast to the Central Powers, whom wished nothing more than to see an end to the fighting. The fact that the Mexican Empire was a combatant for the Iron Alliance served as both a positive and negative factor in their decision to join the war. This was a tricky debate, but it was generally believed that the United States would soon find its way into the war—perhaps using the Mexican Empire as the key.

February of 1896 brought about the first mass protests of war. No one was winning World War I, necessarily, and already nearly a million French soldiers had died in war. This was a ridiculous amount and the public knew it. Sadly, there was no easy way of ending the civil unrest. World War I was on and couldn't be stopped, if this resulted in mass revolts, the French military would simply need to deal with it through violent means.

The winter of 1896 brought about a stalemate in fighting. The invasion of Switzerland had failed for a second time in this war, the French continued to fight the Germans to no progress, and the Russians fought the Germans to a similar result. Surprisingly, there were many combatants who still refused to fight. The Chinese Empire fought alongside the Iron Alliance against Japan, a Central Powers member, yet, neither nation fought. The same could be said for Hawaii, Sweden, and Denmark. As the death toll raised for both factions, France felt obliged to add a new demand to the war against Spain. The French government now demanded that Republican Spain cede the Congo to them—a region of Africa.

June 30, 1896, officially about one year since the start of World War I. Germany had finally decided to try and level out the battlefield by removing a weaker great power, respectively, Austria-Hungary fit this bill. On this day, Germany managed to muster out a new army to invade Austria-Hungary, a nation unprepared for an invasion. No one would have suspected Germany to invade Austria-Hungary considering the very specific situation of the war—but Wilhelm II found a way. The German army started by occupying Bohemia, a very easy target for them. It was this same time that quite possibly the tide changer had come at last. Officially, the German armies in Poland had broken into messy clusters. The Russians, massed together in the thousands, were ready to liberate Poland from German control—then make their way to Berlin.

Months later, on August 1st, many major events had unfolded. Firstly, the Austro-Hungarian Civil War had broken out of virtually nowhere. Thousands of communists decided to rise up and attack while the nation was weak. These rebels were fearsome enemies to both the Iron Alliance and Central Powers alike. Along with this revolution came a long list of demands prepared by the Iron Alliance.

The prepared list truly proved that it was the Iron Alliance who were the imperialistic warmongers, as to this day, the Central Powers _still_ demanded nothing. The list of demands were very specific. France demanded the whole region of Catalonia from Republican Spain, which would officially incorporate a major part of Spain into France's borders. The other demands came from the Mexican Empire. The Mexicans demanded that the British Empire cede Guatemala to them, and also that Denmark gives independence to the state of _'Schleswig'_. Germany, fuming with rage, finally retaliated with a single demand—1/4th of Russian Poland.

The Iron Alliance didn't know, but the Mexican Empire's decision to make such demands put the icing on the cake. In the middle of August, the United States officially viewed the Iron Alliance as a tyrannical alliance seeking the destabilization of many innocent nations, Spain and the British Empire, namely. Despite that Kaiser Wilhelm II had finally made an imperialistic demand, this didn't compare to the Iron Alliance's many greater demands. And so, beyond the knowledge of many, congress and President Cleveland came to a mutual understanding and greenlit the concept of intervention.

September brought good fortune back to the Central Powers, though, not in a moralistic way. By making it law that _all_ males 18 and up had to serve in the German military, Germany managed to fully reinforce their armies in Poland and France while also continuing their invasion of Austria-Hungary. At this point, Germany added the demand to have all of Bohemia ceded—using the excuse that Bohemia contained many ethnic Germans.

War went on, but it would ultimately seem that the tide had finally turned in the Iron Alliance's favor. This was possibly to be short lived, however. For on October 5th, 1896, the United States officially entered the war as a Central Powers combatant.

Respectively and to be expected, mere days after declaring war on the Iron Alliance, thousands of American troops flushed into the Mexican Empire like a tsunami. Immediately, the United States added their two demands to the war effort, the demands that both Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire be forced to chop their armies in half.

The American entrance into the war caused havoc throughout the Iron Alliance, and it was England who suffered the most in Europe. With the announcement of the United States' entrance into the war, protests within England had gone violent. Thousands of civilians proceeded to rise up and take arms in an attempt to force England out of the war, but of course, they were met with resistance.

By February of 1897, the Mexicans learned of their wrongdoings the hard way. It was but months ago that the Mexican Empire was on top of the world, practically running the show against the British Empire in America; only to now find that 50% of the Mexican Empire lay under American occupation. The Mexican government wasn't going to play around with the United States. They couldn't be beaten, period. Rather than work to find ways around the United States, the Mexican government immediately sought out a resolution to exit the war without any repercussions.

Later that month, both the English and Austro-Hungarian revolutions had been put down at the cost of many much needed soldiers. Fortunately for them, the German military had been scared off by the rebels, thus leaving Austria-Hungary, yet again, completely unharmed in terms of territory.

April 20th of 1897 finally put a stabbing to the Iron Alliance, a painful stabbing. On this date, the Mexican Empire wrote up their terms of surrender and exited the war in defeat. This officially marked the first Iron Alliance member to lose the war—and it was a painful loss, as this left the Central Powers practically in full control of the Americas.

Be as it may, the United States was running out of time to act. For in this same month the Russian military had officially done what was initially thought to be impossible. Through blood, sweat, and sacrifice, Poland had been fully liberated, and so Russian boots came onto German soil. The road to Berlin had now begun, and this great city was only miles now from the Russian flood.

All of a sudden, World War I had completely taken a twist. No longer were the Germans focusing on France, now they were forced to send the majority to the east in a bid to hold off the Russians from reaching Berlin. Likewise, West Germany was taking heavy losses due to the French, Swiss, Italians, and Austro-Hungarians. This process was happening very quickly. A year ago, Germany had the Russian Empire on their knees, bleeding, vomiting, dying; now the tide had turned.

Many fights ensued those coming months. German soldiers fought with machine guns, rifles, and artillery; soldiers as young as 18 were now fighting a seemingly invincible Russian war machine. By July 19th, 1897, the Battle for Berlin had begun. The streets of Berlin were littered with rifle shells and craters from artillery, the Reichstag remained standing with massive war damage, and the Brandenburg Gate holed up by explosions. Kaiser Wilhelm II, to his misfortune, was trapped within the Reichstag, practically doomed to be captured by Russian forces.

Just as Germany had begun to fall, so did the British Empire. With the help of the French navy, the English were able to finally break into British controlled Ireland—where Queen Victoria. No time was wasted in taking the whole island by storm. Now the Battle for Dublin had begun, where likewise with Wilhelm II, Queen Victoria remained ready to be captured.

The United States had finally gotten their ships ready and were off to start an invasion in Italy, as Italy would be an unexpected target. Though the American presence in Europe would certainly make a difference, they were on the clock. Wilhelm II was in trouble, Victoria was in trouble, and even Sweden now found itself 80% occupied by a flooding Russian army.

September of 1897, Berlin was now encircled. The Russian army continued forward into Central Germany where they would start to meet French armies. By now the Reichstag understood that defeat was upon them, the question was whether or not the Americans could make a last minute appearance near Denmark. Unfortunately for the Germans, the Americans had chosen to attack Italy—unaware of the situation in Germany.

One month later, 12 American transport ships came near the shores of Sicily, however, were attacked by a much larger Italian fleet. This was a shocker to the Americans, as they presumed that the Italians would have left their guard down. As a result of this miscalculation, three American transports were lost, and thus they were forced to retreat into the Italian Republic—the small island nation of the Central Powers. This was a major setback for the United States and their allies, as now over 60,000+ soldiers were stranded on an island of little significance to the war effort.

November 1st, 1897, Germany's run had come to an end. Berlin was under full occupation by Russian forces and Kaiser Wilhelm II had been safely secured along with the rest of the Reichstag. Despite having been captured, the war in Germany would continue on to the bitter end, as the remaining German armies were without communication. On a brighter note for the Central Powers, 48,000+ American soldiers managed to sneak onto the shores of southern France, this was indeed the final shot at any victory. There was officially an invasion in place, now the question was whether or not the Americans could stop their allies from surrendering. It was also during this time that the Chinese, finally, made their contribution to the war by invading British India. Though by now this was hardly significant, given that Queen Victoria was about to be captured in Ireland.

By November 22nd, Denmark had been fully occupied by the Russians along with Sweden, which would result in an inevitable surrender by both nations. In December, the American war effort would gain momentum as they fortify the beaches of Provence to make basing easier. Now ships would be able to dock at the beach and drop off more soldiers.

1898 would prove to be the closer of World War I. On January 4th, 1898, Denmark would officially surrender to the Iron Alliance. This wasn't nearly the significant event within these months, though. For on February 13th, 1898, Germany, the leader, would finally surrender and cede Elsaß-Lothringen to France, in which would then be renamed '_Alsace Lorraine_'. The United States would be outraged by this turn of events, but rather than folding and concluding the war, would willingly take over as leader of the Central Powers. On June 1st, Sweden would also surrender to the Iron Alliance.

Under new leadership, the United States had a far weaker faction to work with. At this moment, they only had: **Brazil**, the **British Empire**, the **Italian Republic**, **Morocco**, **Republican Spain**, **Japan**, and **Hawaii**. Of all these nations, only Japan remained strong enough to make an impact—but they refused to combat at this point. The United States was likely stronger than all these opponents combined, though, not in terms of naval strength.

August 24th, 1898, Ireland would become fully occupied by the English. Queen Victoria would be secured by English troops and returned to London for imprisonment for the remainder of the war. This officially left the British Empire with _only_ their land in India, which was already being invaded by the Chinese. Ultimately, it was safe to say that the British Empire had been defeated and would accept unconditional surrender very soon.

Throughout August and October, the Russians, Italians, French, and Austro-Hungarians would combine forces and power through Republican Spain without a struggle. Though the Spanish would hold their grounds for as long as possible, they would soon find their government signing surrender with the Iron Alliance. This term of surrender gave the Congo to France in Africa, the Spanish region of Catalonia to France, and Al Rif to England—the land between Spain and Africa.

At long last, on February 5th, 1899, the British Empire would accept surrender and cede the Lowlands of Scotland to England and also to disarm half their army and navy. By now, following the recent surrendering nations, there was no doubting that World War I had been won by the Iron Alliance. Only the United States could still win the war if they so desired, but they'd likely be alone at this point.

The months of March and beyond led to the Russian invasion of Morocco, and immediately, the Russians demanded the full annexation of the African nation. August brought about doomsday for the American soldiers in France, as the 50,000+ fortified American troops were either arrested or completely butchered by French and Italian armies. Finally, in later August, Morocco accepted annexation to the Russian Empire and the Italian Republic surrendered to France without a fight—accepting French annexation. With the United States alone with Japan, Brazil, and Hawaii, the Russian Empire entered the demand for California's independence. This demand alone served as the finishing move.

September 1st, 1899, the United States accepted surrender on behalf of the Central Powers as a whole. In exchange for early surrender, the United States was allowed to keep possession of California, though Brazil was forced to cede much of their northern territory to France.

In the end, _all_ nations that fought in the Central Powers were required to pay routine war reparations for the coming several years. Some nations, such as the United States, could afford to make monthly reparations. Other nations, like Denmark, Sweden, and the British Empire, would likely collapse from bankruptcy. Nations like Germany would only survive the reparations through hard work. German citizens would be required to make wooden clocks and sell them to France and her allies as punishment for World War I. This applied to countries like Japan and Hawaii as well. Many would go on to argue that the punishments put in place for the Central Powers were unfair, especially since France started the war in the first place. But history would ultimately be written by the winners, and thus, it would be the Central Powers who would go on to be the villains in popular culture throughout the coming centuries—not the Iron Alliance.

In the end, 39,553,588 soldiers died fighting World War I, about 14,000,000 civilians died from starvation and murder alike. In total, about 53,553,588 lives were lost in the first Great War. Members of the Iron Alliance gained new land, but in the very end, the question posed would be whether or not it's truly worth it. Over 50 million potential families, destroyed, due to government greed. All lives that would never see the future.

And so, the year 1900 would come. With the greatly damaged British Empire, Canada would threaten Queen Victoria with war if not given the _fullest_ independence. A response was never given, Canada simply went on to become a fully independent nation in North America. Along with Canada, the Chinese eventually aided the Indians in revolution, and thus, the county of India had formed at last. This meant that, officially, the British Empire equaled only Ireland and half of Scotland.

For Bali, a major event had unfolded. The Netherlands had practically ceased to exist in Indonesia. Five new neighbors had been introduced in Indonesia for Bali, all potential enemies or friends. These new neighbors were: Java, Sumatra, Atjeh, Moluccas, and New Guinea. Surely, all five of these countries would serve a purpose in Bali's rise; either negatively or positively.

World War I was over, and one needn't doubt that World War II would be far away from happening. Bali hadn't taken part in this event, but surely, they'd play more of a role come World War II. But hopefully, World War II would refrain from occurring for quite some time. The dark clouds of Europe was over, for now. But alas, many graves would be built in the year 1900. The 20th century was here at last, and this would either bring about a century of more peaceful times, or simply more deadly. With technology advancing every day, a new World War would likely be more destructive.

To be continued...


	7. Repercussions

_Historically, the Central Powers (namely, Austria-Hungary, the German Empire, and the Ottoman Empire) lost World War I and were greatly damaged as a result due to the harsh punishments put onto them. Austria-Hungary ended up collapsing into many smaller nations (Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Romania, etc.); the German Empire found had been dismantled and turned into the Weimar Republic, and was instructed to pay high cost reparations to the Allies. Many scholars would argue that it was these reparations that led to the extensive rise of communism and fascism in Germany, and by 1933, Adolf Hitler would take power and create mayhem—the primary repercussion of World War I._

_Rise of Bali saw a very similar outcome for World War I, except, members of the Central Power were diverse. With Germany, Sweden, the USA, and many other important nations now suffering under war reparations, what kind of repercussions might we see? Fascism has yet to be discovered, so one needn't worry about any Nazi risings... yet. Communism, however, is out on the market. So, what repercussions will ensue with World War I now over, and the biggest question: Will the end result affect Bali?_

_World War I has ended, and for a time, things will be peaceful. But will these years of peace foreshadow something far worse down the road? Almost certainly._

Chapter 7 – Repercussions

The innocence of man, the lust of government, and the repercussions of war. World War I ended in the Fall of 1899 with the Iron Allies installing their demands. The all too predictable outcome of World War I saw Germany as the war's antagonist, despite that they were the victim of the initial war. France had seized Alsace-Lorraine from Germany, a contested bordering region, but the war came at the cost of many innocent lives.

Kaiser Wilhelm II retained the throne of Germany, as did the British Empire with Queen Victoria. Meanwhile, in the United States, newly elected democratic president William J. Bryan takes on American leadership during the era of harsh reparations. The Central Powers were not the only ones to suffer as a result of World War I. In England, much of the population demands social retribution for the many lives lost—something the government refuses to give. The Russian Empire especially finds itself in trouble. Given that for much of World War I Germany controlled Poland, the Polish nationalists now revive the popular debate of independence. But with the Russian Empire now tuckered out from fighting the world's biggest war, the Polish see an opportunity to, perhaps, win their independence through violent means. Even worse, communists in Russia nationwide condemn Tsar Nicholas II's leadership. Though the Russian Empire won World War I, it was still considered a close call on the account that the Germans had begun to occupy as far as Belarus and Ukraine. Change was coming for the world, but for now, many could safely assume a period of peace.

January of 1900 brought even more prosperous of days for the Balinese. Recent reports indicated that the Balinese now had an overall literacy of 30%. The majority of the population remained illiterate, but this was on track to change. This meant that almost one third of the population could read, these were the citizens most likely to join the rich. In Borneo, Bali acquired the funds to build a grand naval base near the old capital of Brunei—the tribe they conquered so many years ago. When the naval base is completed, the impossible could be attempted; to construct the almighty battleship—the steel fortress of warships. A battleship would be the most expensive thing the Socialist Faction ever spent on, and the costs for maintenance would be just as frightening. With an industrial heaven in Borneo, Bali had the benefit of great profit and could afford such a project.

Altogether in Borneo, there were more than 20,000 factory workers, all hard proletariats of the Balinese dream. The the northeast, however, there was a threat that continued to loom. The communist dictatorship of the Philippines. After many years of watching Bali shape Mindanao—the southern islands they conquered—war was becoming inevitable, even after an event as devastating as World War I.

January 25th, 1900, brought about the first repercussion of World War I. For on this day, Denmark, a former Central Power, declared bankruptcy and could no longer guarantee financial returns to their investors. This also meant that the Danish couldn't provide the Iron Allies with war reparations, and thus, the Allies had Denmark make up for this by paying the victors with consumer goods instead, such as wooden clocks. The Allies were at a moderate understanding for the Danish struggle, but the Danish people were not. Now the first actual fear of Danish civil war was at hand, and with a disarmed military, the Danish crown would need to pray otherwise.

Many months went by of peace, and it was in November of 1900 that Bali completed a new naval base in both Borneo and Mindanao. Two battleships were requisitioned by the Balinese navy that would cost millions of dollars. Expensive, but no doubt this make Bali's navy something to be feared.

January 22nd, 1901, a major event had struck Europe. Queen Victoria of the British Empire fell ill early January and later died of cerebral hemorrhage. Under Queen Victoria's long reign, the world saw the collapse of the United Kingdom, but also the freedom of two Baltic nations. Many were sad, others were overjoyed; England could enjoy this event knowing that the British Empire would be under different rule, and therefore, perhaps, willing to climb a friendship ladder. For Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, this meant the death of his grandmother—whom he fought beside in World War I. Great Britain would never be the same without Queen Victoria, either for the betterment or worsening of the two islands.

Following Victoria's death came absolute mayhem. Due to succession issues pertaining to British India, 200,000+ Indian communists arose and began burning down British embassies. India had been given minor independence following World War I, but remained a part of the British Empire for the most part. Now with Victoria gone, India was to be taken by a communist storm; this was also because of the crippling economy resulting from World War I and the reparations.

These 200,000+ rebel troops would proceed to occupy eastern India, and without the British Empire to help, this wasn't much of a plausible scenario for the newly formed Indian government. Worst of all was that a communist Indian dictatorship would be massive and very threatening to the world.

May of 1901 brought about the first crisis since World War I, yet again, the crisis for Poland—only this time it was a serious issue. Unlike all other times, the Polish population were rioting and making threats to the government, the crisis was supported by England. France, a strong ally of the Russian Empire during World War I, took to Tsar Nicholas II's side of the crisis without hesitation. England suspected that Kaiser Wilhelm II may join their side, but the Reichstag of Berlin—still repairing itself—expressed a rare demonstration of concern for safety and desired to stay out of the crisis. This left the Iron Allies arguing amongst each other.

During the crisis, on June 20th, Bali officially announced the entrance of the _BN Kuching_ to the navy. This was the first battleship to ever be constructed in Oceania, and thus, established Bali as the most powerful nation within Oceania. In terms of naval strength, they were now the strongest in both Asia and Oceania. This was one ship, yet, enough to hold off against many less advanced ships. The battleship was armed with three main cannons and five secondaries. The name came from the Kuching jungle, the same jungle that killed many Balinese soldiers back in the early days.

After much talking between the three former Iron Allies, a peace treaty had yet again been signed which closed off the crisis. While all seemed well for Tsar Nicholas II, he couldn't be any wronger. On January 2nd, 1902, it was determined by the citizens of Russian Poland that there would be no more crises for their independence—it was time to seize independence. Though, Polish rebels were not alone in the fight. Within Russia, socialist revolutionist, Vladimir Lenin, arose with thousands of soviet fighters in a bid to restructure the Russian Empire into a communist union. Lenin's communists and the Polish nationalists were fighting for different goals, but a similar cause. The Russian Revolution was taking place, and Tsar Nicholas II had a headache ahead of him.

On the same day of the Russian Revolution, Bali completed the _BN Brunei_, the sister battleship of the previously made one. This battleship was named after the tribe that Bali had conquered. Together in a fleet, both battleships would declare naval supremacy on Oceania and even leave the Philippines ruling out war. More militarization occurred for Bali in February as researchers came up with the concept of 'bolt-action rifles' and new uniforms. No longer would Balinese soldiers wear their cotton uniforms, but rather, they would wear helmets and cloth uniforms.

Six months of fighting in Russia would determine that the Russian Revolution was evenly matched. On one hand, the Polish rebels continued moving into Belarus, and Lenin's men moved in toward western Russia; but Nicholas II's loyalists would continue fighting off the rebel armies with great success. The true challenge for the Russian Empire was fighting a two front war against the rebels. The size of the rebel armies wasn't the hardest part.

As chaos erupted within the Russian Empire, a devastating event had occurred a year later in Bali. In the summer of 1903, many of the factories in Borneo had been burned down by evasive individuals, thus leaving 11,000+ Balinese workers unemployed and an unemployment rate of 4% for Bali. This was an economic tragedy for the Balinese, and given the fact that many factories had been burned, there was no doubting that this event was planned. The Socialist Faction pointed their fingers toward the Philippines, accusing them of terrorist acts.

The Balinese population were outraged and demanded war with the Philippines. This was something the Socialist Faction was willing to do, but unsure of how powerful the Filipinos had become over the years. Either way, Bali had two massive battleships ready for the fight.

By August of 1903, the tide of the Russian Revolution had turned in favor of the rebels. For on the 22nd of this month, Vladimir Lenin's communists merged with the Polish rebels and made their approach on the Russian capital. Tsar Nicholas II, fearing the incoming rebel armies, would leave the capital in search of safety. On this same day, the Philippines would deny having anything to do with the terrorism committed in Borneo.

In a quick and decisive action, the merged Polish-Lenin troops would take the capital of the Russian Empire. This would greatly damage the Russian Empire, but not end the revolution. If Poland was to win independence, and Lenin to acquire a Soviet Union, more work would need to be done.

Ironically, all the way in Cuba, communist rebels conducted a revolution of their own and ceased 80% of the country, leaving only Havana in control by the loyalists. The United States desired to stop the communists from taking power, however, they did not support the current Cuban government. Henceforth, the United States was prepared to deal with a communist Cuba in the very near future.

Bu August 25th of 1904, Bali had massed together about 33,000 soldiers in preparation to fight the Philippines and stationed them in Mindanao. From here, the Balinese and Filipinos could finally resume their war exactly as it was previously. By January of 1905, Bali was ready for war.

A surprising turn of events occurred in Canada, of all places, as on March 2nd of 1905 a radical right-wing group going by the name '_Canadian Union of Fascists_' had their voices heard. Under their new ideology, 'Fascism', this party seeks to create a nationalistic authoritarian system of government. The nemesis of Fascism would be Communism, but may also oppose the concept of Capitalism. Historically, fascist leaders of note would be those such as Adolf Hitler, Hideki Tojo, and Benito Mussolini (the actual creator).

Much like Communism did, Fascism spread like fire throughout the world, but not in large quantities, yet. The Fascism's rise to power in a country would take time, for it is a new ideology. The day that brings about a fascist nation would be the start to great tension. With heavy toll placed against the Central Powers, it would not be surprising if, soon, a nation like Germany could find itself under fascist control. If the United States were to fall to fascism, the entire world would have a reason to tremble in fear.

At long last, Bali positioned its two fleets around the Philippines in what was to be considered an obvious declaration of war. Bali was ready to expand forward into Visayas. This, however, ended up not being the case. On March 9th, 1905, the United States government—now controlled by _Theodore Roosevelt_, threatened their Balinese allies with harsh retaliation if they pressed on with the war. The American message was somewhat vague to the Socialist Faction of Bali, but the surprising implication was that the United States would retaliate on the Filipino side if Bali took action. The Balinese had no choice, despite the destruction caused in Borneo and expenses gone toward mobilizing for war—all plans of invasion were scrapped on the very last day.

When asked as to why Bali cannot invade the Philippines for reasons of vengeance, the United States responded with, "Doing so would damage American interests and deny the Filipinos the right to remain independent as a unique nation." Of course, there was something fishy about this and everyone knew it. For the United States to defend a communist dictatorship—the enemy of capitalism—was all too wrong and suspicious. President Roosevelt was up to something worth fretting over. Regardless, the United States concluded the event by assuring the same line of protection for the Balinese, in the event that it is the Filipinos who invade Bali.

For whatever the reason may be, the United States desired for both Bali and the Filipino dictatorship to remain independent. The question raised was whether or not this was because of true desire for world peace, or because the United States saw ways to make money off of the two. This wouldn't be surprising, considering the United States was suffering under war reparations and was in desperate need for money.

For the remainder of the year, two major events unfolded. In the fresh nation of India, which had only been independent for a few years, victory had been proclaimed by the Indian communists. Overthrowing the weak nation, a new flag was set up and a new system of government. Indeed, in a matter of years, Red India had formed. This occurred in August, but across the world, another similar event occurred. The government of Cuba, now suffering from losing their best trading partner (United States) had lost their final city and was left with a shattered government. Like with Cuba, a new communist dictatorship came to be in the island nation.

Communist revolutions were on the rise once more and in the most random of places, almost all of which were linked to World War I. The British Empire lost India after World War I, and Cuba's economy crashed since they could no longer make trade with an economically starved United States. For Bali, this meant that the Philippines may seek an alliance with Red India. Not to mention, Vladimir Lenin continued his war against the Russian Empire in a bid to restructure Russia into the Soviet Union.

This was only the beginning, though, for the inevitable happened. In the heartland of World War I's repercussions, Germany, citizens of the dying Reich rose up demanding much of the same. To the east, there was the Russian Revolution; now there was the German Revolution. Kaiser Wilhelm II, of course, wasn't going to go down without a fight. Despite a crippled economy, resentful population, and disarmed military; he would see to the best of his leading abilities that the communists are vanquished. The world would not survive with both Russia and Germany falling under the hands of a communist dictatorship.

In April 28th of 1906, some internal conflict brewed within the former Central Powers. Still upset with the British Empire's incompetency in World War I, the United States brought up the debate as to why Ireland remain under their strict control. Thus, a crisis for the independence of Ireland ensued. The idea was good, but the arguments bad. The United States lacked the truest reasons as to why Ireland should see independence. As a result of bad debating, the British Empire was aided by France, Belgium, Germany, and even the Russian Empire.

The United States tried their hardest to get their points across to the world, but no one was on their side on the matter. It could be argued that both Germany and the Russian Empire were unwilling to risk starting World War II over Ireland's independence, especially since both had respective communist revolutions occurring in their own country. In the end, the United States was forced to fold and close the crisis off with white peace. The British Empire would survive another round.

The Russian Revolution intensified over the many months, and by winter of 1907, it could be noted that the communist uprising had gotten twice as large. This was no longer a simple matter of rebel suppression, Tsar Nicholas II was now fighting a full war with Vladimir Lenin. As the communist armies got larger, so did the complexity and lethal ability of their weaponry.

Meanwhile, in Germany. 23,000+ German communist troops find a break in Wilhelm II's defense and finds their way into Berlin. The capital city remain very damaged from World War I, a communist revolution would only recreate much of the same damage. The Reichstag was the target for the communists, where Wilhelm II would be working with his top military officials to put down the rebel uprising. To counter the rebel soldiers, the German Army mustered together 200,000+ volunteered soldiers and took for Berlin. These soldiers, though, came with poor equipment because of the Treaty of Versailles' military disarmament punishment.

As fierce fighting ensued within the once rich city of Berlin, more and more communists would take to Berlin like crusaders. The communist rebels were outnumbered by a very large margin, but had the benefit of good weaponry and total determination for victory. All in all, despite having a larger army, the German Army was failing to keep the rebels away. Sectors of Berlin had begun to fall under total communist occupation. Much of south and east Berlin now acts as a base of operations for the rebel armies, and both the Reichstag and Brandenburg Gate come closer to falling with each day.

While Kaiser Wilhelm II suffered much dilemma in his country, Tsar Nicholas II's struggle intensified not with Vladimir Lenin, but rather, Polish nationalists. December 3rd, 1907, the people of Russian Poland convened and put together a temporary council of leaders. Under this temporary leadership, a non-recognized Poland arose and declared its independence. Poland's independence was recognized by no one, and in fact, led to France intervening on the side of Nicholas II. The first order of military business for the new Polish nation was to invade Russian Belarus and Ukraine. This Poland, however, was condemned by Vladimir Lenin—who was hoping for either a communist Poland or control by the Soviet Union.

Fighting raged on in the Fatherland, the communist rebels continued to kill soldiers of the German Army and seize Berlin. Not only were they taking Berlin, but the entire region of Hanover was being taken by communism. The real victory came with the official collapse of the German Reichstag government and a victorious red flag hanging from the rooftop of the Reichstag building.

Kaiser Wilhelm II had not only fled the Battle of Berlin, but he fled Germany in general and found refuge in the Netherlands. The fact of the matter was, however, that Wilhelm II didn't want to come back. The unfortunate circumstance on that note was that he had no choice.

Following the fall of Berlin, many other kingdoms, duchies, and city states under the German banner threw the towel. Once Bavaria, Hanover, and Prussia agreed on surrender—there was no point in fighting on, for these three kingdoms made up most of Germany.

Dark clouds were only fitting on February 3rd of 1908, as the dissolution of Germany occurred in place of _German Democratic Republic_ _(DDR)_. Kaiser Wilhelm II had been replaced by Chairman August Bebel—first chairman of the new proletarian dictatorship. The anthem of this new country, '_Auferstanden aus Ruinen'_ , would be well known for its soothing and patriotic hymn.

This was a major tear in Europe, for the DDR was unlikely to have a revolution because of their plans for a weapon ban. This totalitarian regime could only become stronger than Germany ever was before, and they would not be friendly toward their non-communist neighbors. Having the Soviet Union form would make for an excellent ally, however, Vladimir Lenin's revolution was slowly beginning to decline, as much of his men fled to go fight for Poland's independence. This left Lenin alone with his communist armies—much more manageable, but far weaker without the Polish rebels. This was Nicholas II's only chance at stopping Lenin, though he may need to completely ignore Poland's war to do so.

In the spring of 1908, France arrived in Poland with several armies to combat the Polish armies. They were met with heavy resistance and a surprising amount of Polish armies. The French managed to take control of much of western Poland, but retaining possession of this land was nearly impossible because of the hidden Polish armies occasionally striking the French.

On May 5th, two major events occurred. First, Lithuania fell under a surprise revolution that left it in the same position as Germany. This gave the DDR its first friend, another European communist dictatorship. But it was all the way in Asia that Russian Manchuria raised their flag in rebellion. This was short lived, though, as the Chinese Empire sent an immediate demand to the Manchu for annexation or face war. Without debate, the Manchu surrendered their country to the Chinese. This illegal annexation of Russian territory would strain relations between the Russian and Chinese Empire.

Chairman Bebel, on August 31st, 1908; frightened the world as he made a surprise order. Despite still suffering from the economy Wilhelm II left them with, Bebel ordered for the immediate invasion of Denmark. Preceding this, Bebel sent an ultimatum to Luxembourg demanding 'anschluss'. Fearing the strength of the DDR, Luxembourg accepted anschluss and allowed itself to be annexed.

The 'Volksarmee' of the DDR stormed into Denmark in mass numbers, the jackboots of each marching German soldier replicating the sound of a storm. Each soldier of the Volksarmee came equipped with the same weaponry used in World War I—and thus, they were violating the terms set in the Treaty of Versailles; which required Germany to remain disarmed. Chairman Bebel violated a second term by invading a foreign nation. He did, however, continue paying war reparations to the Iron Alliance—as the DDR still remained weak and couldn't risk World War II.

On October 25th, 1906, Poland officially won its independence from the Russian Empire—a long awaited event. This was a necessary loss for Tsar Nicholas II, as it did allow him to continue his war with Vladimir Lenin with much success. By this time, Lenin had been forced away from the Russian capital—which had now been liberated. With every communist fighter that dropped, the morale and strength of Lenin's forces became weaker. It was almost inevitable at this point that the Russian Empire would survive the Russian Revolution—but at the cost of both Poland and Manchuria.

By March 23rd, 1909, the DDR had performed a full occupation of Denmark. The Danish people were under strict occupation by Chairman Bebel's new German military, and there was no chance at stopping the storm that was the DDR. Later that month, Bebel demanded all of Denmark, excluding: Greenland, Iceland, Zealand, and their islands. The entire peninsula of Denmark was now an official part of the DDR's borders.

No one approved of this invasion, but alas, France and the Russian Empire were both tuckered out from war; leaving only England, Austria-Hungary, and Italy to decide on what to do. They chose to do nothing in response to Bebel's aggression. It would appear that Bebel had succeeded in creating the DDR, breaking the Treaty of Versailles' terms, and annexing most of Denmark—all without consequence.

By the end of 1909, the Socialist Faction of Bali was forced to agree with reality. As long as the United States remained strict on Balinese-Filipino rivalry, there could be no future war. As much as neither side liked it, peace would be a recurring theme between the two for quite some time. Top top off this part of the 20th century, Vladimir Lenin had been arrested for high treason, and the Russian Revolution half won. Poland was independent, but Tsar Nicholas II remained in power. It was time to restructure the Russian Empire before such an event could occur again.

The DDR, Lithuania, Red India, Cuba, Hawaii, and the Philippines. An era of advanced communist dictatorships had come, and along with this, came the discovery of Fascism. Fascism had yet to make its true appearance in the world, but soon, Europe would be stabbed by the repercussions that World War I created. The DDR was alive, but poor. In time, the Volksarmee would become a military to be reckoned with, and the DDR would perhaps seek out revenge for World War II. For now, the question was on the desk of every European leader.

Was Denmark and Luxembourg mere target practice for Chairman Bebel's new Germany, or was this the beginning to a very aggressive DDR. With Poland now independent and a growing DDR, Bebel had many targets. Poland could very well be on Bebel's to-do list, if not all of Europe.

To be continued...


	8. New World Order

_Alright, couple of things to say. First of all, from here on out, I will be unable to make Rise of Bali chapters with absolute ease. As you'll see by the end of this chapter, it's time for me to get really serious and strategic. No longer can I just 'wing it' and 'see what happens', I need to put the most careful planning into the actions I take. Starting in Chapter 9, the world is on the brink of chaos—and Bali must gnaw on what remains of our beloved democracy if we're to survive. As a fair warning, on that note, understand that though there are 8-10 chapters left of this story, I am still playing by the rule: 'If Bali dies, the story ends'. This is why making new chapters will take longer, because I must take every necessary precaution to ensure that Bali does not die in a changing world of this intensity._

_Second, as some of you may know, Victoria II ends on the year 1936. This year will arrive in Chapter 10. However, I decided early on that I'm expanding the end date to the year 2000, instead. Be as it may, vanilla Victoria II does not actually have helicopters, jets, nukes, aircraft carriers, etc. So starting on Chapter 10 and onward, there will be an escalation of made up components to the story. As it stands in this chapter, everything is still canon with Victoria II. Anything after Chapter 10 may contain unit types that do not actually exist in the game. Battles will still be fought the same way as we enter the Cold War era, however, I'm going to exaggerate the truth and make mentions of helicopters and other modern weaponry not actually in Victoria II._

_I only warn the readers of this so that Chapter 10 and onward does not convince you to buy Victoria II for modern warfare action. Vanilla Victoria II takes place from 1836-1936, just keep that in mind. There are, however, mods that add such technology to the game, I do believe. Though I have not tried it, might I recommend the mod 'Kaiserreich' made by 'El_Primeministere' on Moddb._

_Enjoy this wild chapter!_

Chapter 8 – New World Order

The immediate repercussions of World War I were over, but now the time for long term repercussions had arrived in the year 1910. The once existing German Empire had been overthrown by August Bebel and transformed into the DDR (_Deutsche Demokratische Republik_). Under Chairman Bebel's control, the DDR reconstructed their military—thus violating a term of the Treaty of Versailles—and proceeded to annex most of Denmark. Along with Denmark came the peaceful anschluss of Luxembourg into the DDR. Though fearful of Bebel's intentions, the democratic powers of the world keep their guns lowered, as Bebel does continue to pay war reparations to the victorious nations of World War I. But this was to be short lived and every nation knew it. The DDR remained under tight economic control, but its military had begun to grow once more—the new _Nationale Volksarmee_.

Unknowingly to all nations of the world, Bebel had already begun to work around the sport of secret agents. Poland is now independent but remains weak and without an efficient constitution; this worked very well in the DDR's favor, who funded Polish communists in secrecy in a bid to earn a new powerful ally. With a communist Lithuania to the east, turning Poland into a fellow proletarian dictatorship would help shape Bebel's dream for an indestructible communist Reich. Either way, his secret funding worked, and communist rebels flocked to the capital city of Warsaw, fighting for a reformed communist Poland.

The British Empire, a former Central Power of World War I, now without Queen Victoria dead; and her successor, King Edward VII, having died from a heart attack in 1910; it is up to King George V to keep the British Empire alive. He begins his reign as British king with the unfortunate duty of needing to liberate Scotland from communist rebels—that may or may not have been funded by the DDR as well. Just as all seems lost and that a communist Scotland is to emerge, George V shows good potential and may very well fix what remains of the former United Kingdom. His plan is to retake Scotland by storm, one village at a time at a pace that the rebels will never keep up with.

Lastly, Red India begins their first conquest against the surviving Indian states that stand in their way of full unification. They do so by declaring war on the Indian nation of Hyderabad, which makes up 33% of India. If successful, nothing would stand in Red India's way of achieving full unification.

While the world is going through drastic reshaping, no country—regardless of the impact—can go through as much change as Bali. By 1910, 40% of the entire Balinese population is able to speak and write their own language. By now, it is official that Borneo and Mindanao are what keeps Bali away from perfect literacy. The richest and smartest of Balinese citizens will go on to live on the actual island of Bali—the capital of the growing empire. The common worker will work in Borneo—the industrial paradise of the world. Still, Borneo now suffers a decline in profit after a series of mysterious factory destruction occurred throughout the entire island. Be as it may, the unemployment rate normalized once again.

The Socialist Faction had never lost an election after first being elected, the common finish in elections came to be 75% of the votes, with the Liberal Faction still retaining many supporters. The Socialist Faction had a new threat, however, as a brand new party had been established—the Fascist Party. The Fascist Party of Bali seeks to pass social reforms, keep minorities out of Bali, expand borders, and create an ultimate military. This platform was very similar to the Socialist Faction, except the current ruling party supported immigrants and valued work over fighting. For the time being, the Socialist Faction of Bali needn't worry about the Fascist Party, as they lack public support.

On July 16th, 1910; Chairman Bebel broke his silence and insisted to France that Alsace-Lorraine, the land taken from Germany in World War I, is the rightful land of the DDR and should be returned. The argument was that this region of land has many more ethnic Germans than French. French President Armand Fallieres declined the peaceful proposal and went as far as to put French armies _in_ Alsace-Lorraine, fearing a German invasion to ensue. It was on July 30th that, indeed, the DDR broke yet another term of the Treaty of Versailles, as they proceeded to reoccupy the Rheinland with German troops. With both German and French armies staring at each other from across the border, the world remained watching nervously for World War II to break out. Fortunately, this was but a mere bluff by Chairman Bebel—and no war ensued.

Meanwhile, Red India's plan to invade Hyderabad had backfired, and it was their enemies who marched onto communist soil. By September of 1910, southern India had been occupied by Hyderabad, thus leaving Red India only in control of the north. Both armies of India met in the north and battled the war out there.

During that conflict, Chairman Bebel's plan to overthrow Poland with communists had both an up and downside. On the upside, his funding had influenced almost 50,000+ communist rebels to rise up and fight. On the downside, the Russian Empire of all countries rushed to Poland's aid to stop this from going in the DDR's favor. Not long ago the two nations were enemies, now Tsar Nicholas II came to Poland's aid and fought off the communist forces. Be as it may, the Russians were still a fair distance away from Poland—which was now under very intensive siege by the communist forces. Nicholas II had but mere months to reach Warsaw, otherwise, they may be too late.

November 3rd, 1910; an unprecedented attack had been commenced by Italy against Austria-Hungary for the region of Venice—rightful land of the Italian nation. While the Austrians were unprepared for such a threat, the British Empire and communist Lithuania were quick to arrive on the scene to fight Italy. There were no existing negotiations made between the two sides, Italy decided to wage war without talking things through. It would only take two months for the Italian armies to seize control of Venice; however, Italy's navy had been shot to pieces by Austria-Hungary during the invasion—leaving a major hole in the Italian naval field.

In Scotland, King George V found amazing success as British troops made quick work of the Scottish communists and restored British order to the Highlands. And in another land where communists fight, Red India finds itself locked in even battle with Hyderabad. Though it could be argued that Hyderabad was winning because of the southern occupation, it was the northern section of Red India that mattered most. Red India's communist forces couldn't break through their defense, nor could Hyderabad with their defense.

May 7th, 1911—Italy won the war against Austria-Hungary after having both occupied Venice and killed countless amounts of soldiers. All in all, the Austrian government saw no sense in sacrificing the lives of so many soldiers just to retain control over the land. Both Lithuania and the British Empire agreed and lowered their weapons as well.

One month later, the Indian War would end in success for Hyderabad. Red India failed with their invasion, and as a repercussion, ceded southern India to Hyderabad—making the nation even larger.

Two major wars had just ended, but in the innocent island empire of Bali, a new war was about to unfold. The USA continued to sanction any attempts at invading the Philippines, so the Socialist Faction sought to expand elsewhere. In Indochina, the conservative dictatorship of Cambodia continues to oppress its people. Bali finds this to be an excellent opportunity to expand and would even put them in mainland Asia. It was made official and even public knowledge on July 5th, 1911, that Bali would be preparing for war with Cambodia. The intention, of course, was to liberate the Cambodians from their dictatorship and introduce them to Balinese democracy. Cambodia would also make excellent target practice for Bali's new powerful battleship led fleets.

In November of that year, the world was beyond shocked to find another possible road to World War II. For the second time, the United States, led by President William J. Bryan; started up a crisis for the liberation of Ireland and removal of the British Empire from the world. The Russian Empire was quick to respond on the British Empire's side. In response, the United States called upon Bali, of all nations, requesting that they back them up in the event of World War II. Frantic, the Socialist Faction of Bali explained that they were already working on plans to liberate the Cambodians and would be unable to aid them against the British and Russians. This caused a fair strain in relations between the two allies. By April 1st, 1912, Austria-Hungary and Belgium would join the British Empire as well, thus leaving England and the DDR to pick a side. Both nations were undecided. A decision would not be made, however, as the United States would call off the crisis with white peace, once again failing to free Ireland.

June 30th, 1912—a day that would be well recognized by the world as beyond threatening. In secrecy, Chairman Bebel met the chairmen of both Cuba and Lithuania—two communist nations—in the Reichstag building in Berlin. It was here that through convincing talks and promises of economic aid, the three nations could unite and form a communist pact. Respectively, the DDR would be the leader of the axis of nations. Both Cuba and Lithuania agreed, and thus, the three nations united together as allies. Along with an alliance, both Cuba and the DDR agreed to help Lithuania with a secret plan that had been in the works—a full invasion of Latvia. If supported by the DDR, Lithuania could annex Latvia and become twice as big, and in turn, become a more prominent ally. Cuba would accept this plan if Chairman Bebel did, and as a counter-offer, Bebel insisted that Lithuania come to the DDR's aid if France goes to war after refusing to continue paying war reparations for World War I. Lithuania accepted, and thus, the DDR broke the final term of the Treaty of Versailles by refusing to continue paying the former Iron Allies. The plan was set, and within mere months, Latvia would find communist troops of all three nations in their country.

By September of 1912, Bali had mobilized 75% of their units and were preparing their new powerful fleets. War with Cambodia was closing in fast. Presuming that Cambodia lacked the essential weapons needed to fend off against Bali, the plan was very simple—to land on their shores and seize the country by force.

On November 15th, the Cambodians were surprised to find the red, white, and blue striped flags of Bali blocking their only harbor of Kampat. The blockade would go on for one month, threatening any trading vessels from entering Cambodia. Understanding what was happening, the Cambodian dictatorship mustered together 6,000+ soldiers in preparation for a full Balinese invasion—the unexpected was happening.

A month later, 6,000+ Balinese soldiers would step onto the shores of Cambodia and begin their occupation of Kampat. Machine guns were placed around the city, soldiers stationed in buildings, and artillery batteries dug into the beach. Any attacks made against this modern military would suffer a humiliating defeat. The Balinese were deprived of battle, however, as the 6,000+ Cambodian army threw up a white flag without shooting a single bullet. Rather than die in a pointless attempt at saving the dictatorship, the Cambodian military dropped their weapons and allowed for the Balinese to continue annexation. This was was going to be even easier than first expected.

Seeing as to how the Balinese military wouldn't need the extra funding to win, the Socialist Faction used the leftover war funds to treat themselves to another battleship and three more cruisers. On March 23rd, 1913, a pitiful attempt was made by the Cambodian leaders to try and flee from the nation by ship. The Cambodian supreme leader had boarded the Cambodian pride of the navy and left port in a bid to outrun the Balinese navy. However, they had underestimated the true firepower of Bali's fully operational battleships. The _BN Kuching_ alone turned its primary weapon batteries onto the fleeing Cambodian fleet, each ship was sunk in no more than five minutes. It was welbelieved that the supreme leader of Cambodia had died on this day. Days after this event, the Balinese army moved into the jungles of Oudong and furthered their occupation.

May 13th, 1913, the day of shock had arrived in Europe. For on this day, Lithuania declared war on Latvia, assisted by the DDR. Cuba announced their entrance into the war about a week later. Shocked by the sudden reappearance of a fully militarized Germany, the Russian Empire intervened on Latvia's side in a bid to both save the nation and put the DDR in its place. Sixteen days into the war, 23,000+ Latvian soldiers surprised the Lithuanians by invading _their_ country. Despite this being an invasion of Latvia, it was the Latvians that brought a much bigger invasion force to the table. A massive amount of 53,000+ Russian troops would then proceed to enter Lithuania as well, leaving the communist government to wonder where their DDR ally was.

Little did Lithuania know, Chairman Bebel had fallen ill in early August of 1913, hence his absence from the war. The worst case scenario would then occur, as Bebel would proceed to die of a heart attack August 13th, 1913. He would be succeeded by Ernst Thälmann, new Chairman of the DDR.

In later August, Bali would finalize the _BN Mindanao_, named after the Filipino region they own. Due to amazing demonstrations of power with this battleship, the Socialist Faction would take the risk of requisitioning yet another battleship. By October 23rd, 1913; without a leader, military, and half their country occupied; Cambodia would go bankrupt to add on to the insult. Thus, there was little reason to continue forward. Even if they were to fend off the Balinese, they would be left with little to nothing. It was on this day that Cambodia accepted annexation, officially putting Bali in Asia. The Socialist Faction would applaud the public decision for annexation and take immediate action in explaining to the Cambodians that they have liberated them and will bring economic prosperity to the nation. Despite having been just conquered, the Socialist Faction received a surprising turnout of support from the Cambodians. Whether this support would stay or not all depended on what the Balinese could bring them; and in this case, Bali would do what they're best at—create working factories.

November 13th, 1913, the DDR would make immediate work of the Latvians and go on to occupy their entire country. Lithuania would thus annex all of Latvia and become a much larger nation. Tsar Nicholas II of Russia would see no point in continuing the fight, and thus, would back out of the fray a loser, this time.

While the Russian Empire would back out of the fight without complaining, the same could not be said for Austria-Hungary, who already decided that the DDR had to be stopped. June 26th of 1914, Austria-Hungary would declare war on the DDR with the sole intention of breaking their country. Austria-Hungary was supported by both Sweden and the British Empire, thus _almost_ creating what could be considered World War II. Fortunately for newly appointed Chairman Thälmann, he had Cuba, Lithuania, and Italy on his side. Italy had joined on the DDR's side, seeing both an injustice in the Austrian act of aggression and an opportunity to steal land from Austria-Hungary. Italy proceeded to swarm into the southern states of the Austrian Empire, while the DDR did so from the north. Lithuania, on the other hand, struggled to hold off Sweden and even found the Swedish demanding Latvian independence.

While Sweden would make quick work of communist Lithuania, Austria-Hungary's plan of backfire would have a complete backfire and leave many states to the north and south under hostile control. The British Empire allowed nothing but ships to aid the war effort, but this was irrelevant to the true issue at hand. Lithuania would fall under Sweden's blanket, but Bohemia, Slovakia, Hungary, and Austria would all fall under German and Italian occupation. Fearing what further issues may arise, Austria-Hungary would make a swift peace offer to avoid losing more land. On November 9th, 1914, Austria-Hungary would cede more land to Italy and all enemy troops would thus withdraw.

Though the Russian Empire had saved Poland from then Chairman Bebel's communist fanatics, the long term struggle would reach its pinnacle on May 25. Facing bankruptcy and uprisings of various sorts, the Polish government collapsed into absolute anarchy. Without a government, almost every political faction in Poland would lash out in the thousands in a bid to claim the throne. Communists, fascists, conservatives, liberals; they would all take up arms and race for Warsaw. The strongest rebels were the ones who could locate machine guns, early submachine guns, and bolt action rifles. Other rebel factions were comprised of mere revolvers and semi-automatic pistols.

There was no comprise between the factions. Socialists engaged communists, fascists engaged conservatives, and even liberals engaged opposing liberal factions. Unsurprisingly, Chairman Thälmann authorized the arming of communist rebels with modern German weaponry, thus making the communist forces the superior fighting force. By June 15th of 1915, communists would arrive in Warsaw and fight the loyalist police force. Unchallenged, the communists would proceed to set up operations in the capital in preparation for a 'Polish People's Republic'. All was going according to plan for the DDR, but little did they know, there was an intervention in the making by a surprise guest.

A surprise to anyone, and a controversial move, Tsar Nicholas II of the Russian Empire violated the border agreement dividing Poland and Russia by sending mass amounts of Russian soldiers into Polish land. The orders were as simple as occupying Poland. Nicholas II, however, promised everyone that this was _not_ a bid for the re-annexation of Poland, but rather, a move toward installing a more friendly government based off the _Russian Constitution of 1906_.

Lithuania, Cuba, and the DDR came together to discuss whether or not to counter the Russian Empire with an invasion. With a Polish People's Republic within clear reach, they had to consider whether or not to aid the communist rebels that essentially controlled Warsaw at the moment. If action was not taken soon, the Russians would liberate Warsaw from the communists and crush Thälmann's plan for a communist Poland. The three communist nations discussed the plausibility of success in attacking the Russian Empire, but three negative factors were brought up.

First, there was no guarantee that Italy would aid them in this war, for they had no reason to support communism. Second, France and the British Empire may intervene on the side of the Russian Empire, which would almost inevitably start World War II. Last, Lithuania and the DDR were still healing after their war with Austria-Hungary. Lithuania was in no position to fight the Russian Empire, given that they had nearly been annexed by Sweden not long ago. By the end of the conference, the three communist nations decided to let the Russians take Poland.

There was no surprise to anyone that the Russian Empire would succeed, and by March 21st of 1917, the revolution in Poland would end with the Russians having succeeded in their defense of Poland. With the rebels vanquished and all political parties put back into submission, the Russian Empire would install a Tsarist autocracy to mimic that of the Russian Empire. Now pro-Russian and anti-communist, the _Russo-Polish Pact_ would be signed, thus putting Poland back in Russian arms. In the end, this was the complete opposite of what then Chairman Bebel had planned on seeing, Chairman Thälmann would see to it that the DDR becomes more powerful in other ways.

In Balinese Cambodia, all of the requisitioned factories would be completed and opened for te general public. The opening of factories was not the milestone of this year for Bali, however. The biggest event came to be in July of 1917, when the concept of aeronautics had begun to surface in Bali. The idea of human machines that could fly was vague and doubtful, but proven to be possible. An extraordinary level of interest had been taken by the Balinese to study and develop ways to get humans in the air. If successful and proven to be safe, Bali could consider an attempt at designing planes for civilian use, and perhaps one day, military use.

September 29th, 1917, the Asian country of Burma would become the world's first fascist dictatorship—the natural enemy of a communist dictatorship. Armed to the brink with a military, Burma seeks to expand its borders into Indochina and even pose a threat to Bali—of whom now controls Cambodia. Red India and the British Empire express mutual fear over what this new nation may do, but refrain from taking militaristic action—believing that the nation may collapse on its own.

After many decades of Balinese friendship with the United States, a striking event had occurred which shocked both the Socialist Faction and communist faction of the Philippines. Leaked information revealed that, indeed, the United States had been operating in secrecy and evoking tension between Bali and the Philippines. By doing so, both nations would continue to purchase arms from the United States. Though these operations had been long ceased by the current U.S. government, much of the world remained angry at the administration.

Convening together, the British Empire, DDR, Russian Empire, France, Italy, and Austria-Hungary demanded that the United States cease all involvement with Bali and the Philippines, and that both nations be assigned new protectors. The Untied States, under President _Woodrow Wilson_'s administration, would stress that all undercover acts involving Bali and the Philippines had been scrapped. Nevertheless, the demand to release the two nations continued. President Wilson, with tied hands, would accept the demand and terminate their friendship with both nations.

This left Bali with no friends and no protection, the first time in almost 50 years. The same could be said for the Philippines, who was now left with only Hawaii. Bali and the Philippines would be assigned new friends, however. Bali would find itself under the immediate guarantee of protection by England, while the Philippines would be protected by France. On January 16th, 1918, the monarch of England himself would make his arrival in Bali to greet their new ally. Bali would remain nervous but accept a request for friendship with the English. This would also, of course, severe relations between Bali and France—as France would support the reconquest of Mindanao for the Philippines. Despite the agreement made, President Wilson would insist that the Socialist Faction remain on a positive footnote with the United States, asserting that they were permanent friends, regardless of what the other nations say.

Amidst this surprising turn of events, fascist Burma made an unprecedented, yet susceptible, move as they declared war against Siam (better known as Thailand). On June 4th, 1918, the Burmese would march toward Siam, but would then be surprised by the intervention of Dai Nam (Vietnam). Instead of marching toward Siam, the Burmese army would cease movement and prepare for an attack by the Vietnamese. 15,000+ Vietnamese would strike 7,000+ Burmese in a surprise attack from the jungles. The Burmese would lose the battle, but manage to kill about 5,000 Vietnamese soldiers in the process.

On New Year's Eve of 1918, the Burmese would encircle Vietnamese troops and decimate their armies, leaving Siam for an open attack. Seeing a potential crisis at hand, the British Empire would intervene against Burma and send immediate aid to Indochina in Siam's defense.

By 1919, a major milestone in human technology would hit the market. The British Empire and DDR would become the first nations to sell airplanes, but only planes used for civilian use. The British and Germans, however, would become the first to implement fighter planes and bombers into their military. The British Empire would start off with the _Vickers Vimy_ bomber and _Airco DH.5_ as their first fighter plane. The DDR would use the _Siemens-Schuckert _ as their typical bomber, and the _Albatros D.V_ as their fighter. All designs were based off the biplane. Bali was the official first bidder for civilian craft and would purchase both British and German planes to be used for means of supplying troops and transporting individuals. Bali had yet to implement aircraft into their military, however.

In that same year, another major concept was in Balinese research. The concept of armored mobile artillery being used in war—the tank. The concept was to mix a tractor with artillery and machine guns. This was an idea already being thought of in other countries, but as it stood, no country had successfully developed a tank. Bali had a good shot at becoming the first to introduce tank warfare.

In November of 1919, the worst case scenario had occurred in Europe pertaining to fascism. Italy, long considered a very neutral country, found itself under sudden civil war by the hands of _Benito Mussolini _(historically, the founder of fascism). He and his many armies of black shirt fascists had arisen and began to take Italy by storm. The DDR mobilized in preparation to fight these fascists, but refrained from taking actual action after realizing the extraordinary amount of supporters. It was well conceived that Italy may be overrun within mere months, and thus, German intervention may not be recommended. Chairman Thälmann gritted his teeth through the conflict and sat back.

As expected, Mussolini would go on to take over all the Italian states with little to not struggle at all. The old Italian kingdom would cease to exist in place of a new fascist dictatorship led by Benito Mussolini himself. This would now divide Europe into three powerful ideologies. To the north, there was the communist DDR, often considered to be the greatest power of all time. To the south was Italy, the complete opposite of the DDR. And then there were the other more democratic nations of the east and west.

July 18 of 1921 would bring about another horrific revolution of unquestionable size. In England, thousands of communist forces would rise up and occupy many cities at once, London would fall to the communists within no more than a month. Likewise, the United States, now led by President _James M. Cox_, would find itself in a communist revolution like no other. The DDR's success was acting as inspiration to the world population, and the inspiration was strong. What the revolting population of both nations didn't know, was that both were actually fighting to form communist dictatorships—not democracies.

On a brighter note, by 1921, Bali would acquire more than 1,000 biplanes from the DDR and British Empire. These planes would be used for many purposes, but most prominent was the passenger plane. This made it official that, if you could afford it, you could _fly_ across the Balinese empire. The concept of flying from Borneo to Cambodia within a day was unimaginable but made possible. For now, only the richest of Balinese could afford such flights.

In 1922, France became the first nation to create a tank—the _Schneider CA1_. Though without a turret and armed with machine guns, this tank would provide protection to the drivers through armor and act as an excellent trench buster. Respectively, France was unwilling to sell any of these tanks, fearing that the technology would reach potential enemies—like the DDR. Though France remained the only country in the world to own tanks, this solidified one fact. The 1920s and onward would introduce the concept of tank and plane warfare.

March of 1922 would bring darker days for the United States, a nation that had been suffering since the very beginning. Most of the southern states had been secured by the communists, and Washington D.C. had been seized as well. With every state falling by the minute and President Cox nowhere to be found, the United States once again found itself on the verge of inevitable collapse. This time, however, reclaiming the United States as a democracy would be much more difficult. In a communist government prohibiting guns, free thought, and a censored press—the willpower to rise up for democracy was improbable. On July 4th, there was no doubting the end of monarchic England had come, and that the '_English Commonwealth_' had come to be.

The English Commonwealth beared a red and gold variant of the English flag and declared the old British monarchy extinct. Over in the United States, the communists raised their own flag over the White House and declared a dissolution of the United States in place of the _'American Union'._ All was going according to plan for Chairman Thälmann of the DDR, as communism made a gradual climb for superiority. With England, the United States, and Germany now controlled by communist dictatorships, the world would hesitate to question the supremacy of the proletarian rulers. No communist liberties—only order.

With an overthrown United States, Bali now found itself in a dilemma. For the first time ever, the Socialist Faction found itself at a loss for their once American friends. For a time, the United States was considered Bali's greatest ally; now the American Union viewed Bali more so as an enemy of communist dictatorships everywhere. This was very bad, too, as Bali had a Filipino communist dictatorship neighboring them. There was no doubting that the American Union would try and aid the Philippines in reclaiming their lost land, if not annex Bali altogether. This was the time for panic.

With the pieces now forming a colorful puzzle, Chairman Thälmann—with Cuba and Lithuania supporting—finalized the sequence of events by suggesting a union between the American Union, English Commonwealth, and the other three major communist dictatorships. Red India insisted on staying out of the DDR's faction. On August 24, 1922—the _Comintern_ came to exist—an alliance between the DDR, American Union, English Commonwealth, Lithuania, and Cuba. The goal of the faction was to unify the world under communism—a New World Order. The first order of business would be to claim what remained of Scotland and perhaps conquer the British Empire.

The world was on edge, World War II was inevitable at any waking moment. The Comintern was a threat to be reckoned with and a natural enemy of Bali. France, the Russian Empire, and Austria-Hungary were the major democratic powers of Europe that stood in defiance of the Comintern—but Italy and Burma were new fascist powers to the world. Italy opposed both democracy and communist dictatorships.

By the 1920s, Bali now had what one might consider the greatest navy in the world. Though lacking in manpower, Bali stood as a socialist democracy that could threaten the Comintern. With communism now sweeping the greatest nations in the world, there was no doubting what had to be done. In order to stop the spread of communist dictatorships, an alliance of democracies would need to be formed—a resistance of some sort. Bali had China, Japan, the Russian Empire, and France in mind. Before making any drastic moves, however, Bali would need to become more powerful.

The time for careful decisions was over, Bali would need to take some risks in order to become more powerful. Starting in 1922, steps would be taken to invade the nation of Java—which borders the islands of Bali. If Bali could become a larger and more fearsome empire, they could draw in allies that would oppose the Comintern and perhaps save fallen nations from the communist dictatorships. Before Bali could liberate the United States from the American Union, the Socialist Faction would need to gain some unlikely friends.

To be continued...


	9. --Author Note--

To whom it may concern,

Following the game update for Victoria II, the mod (that I created) was made a version mismatch which made the continuation of 'Rise of Bali' impossible. As of right now, my Bali save has been corrupted and destroyed.

For those who have reached this note here, worry not, for this story will continue, regardless. As it stands, we were at a time period in the story anyway that would have passed Victoria II's end date (1936), so the corrupt save is really of no consequence. What this means, is that I will be writing the remaining 60-70 years of the story -without- using Victoria II. So from this point forward, I will be releasing episodes straight from my head—rather than from the game itself. This will actually make things easier, as it nullifies certain restrictions and idiotic/unrealistic events (such as the USA falling to communism in a mere month).

Rise of Bali is not dead, it will continue soon enough. For now, however, I must continue concentrating on the editing phase of F-Zero: Seppuku, my 1.6 million word drama/adventure series.

With that being said, please include Rise of Bali on your watch list if you so desire. These chapters only take me 2-3 hours to write, so whenever I continue the story really depends on how much freedom I have that day.

Thank you for your patience. Don't forget to check out 'Siontix' on Deviantart. I post chapter illustrations there for Rise of Bali, along with chapters for all my other works.


End file.
